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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How many years after the founding of Boston does Chapter 1 take place?

2. Who is the patient referred to in the title of Chapter 10?

3. What is the "pedestal of infamy?"

4. How does Hawthorne metaphorically refer to the United States government in "The Custom House"?

5. Whom do Dimmesdale and Chillingworth see out the window at the end of Chapter 10?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Hawthorne decide to republish the offending introduction?

2. What does Hawthorne find alongside the scarlet letter?

3. What kind of skill does Hester use to support herself?

4. Describe what Hawthorne's narrator thinks of Reverend Dimmesdale's voice.

5. Name one of the two reasons Hawthorne suspects that the plant standing outside the prison survived.

6. How does Hawthorne describe the inhabitants of Boston?

7. How does Pearl react to other children?

8. In Chapter 2, why might it be Mistress Hibbins who would be in the jail?

9. What happens to Hester when the jailer introduces Chillingworth?

10. What is Dimmesdale's argument for keeping Hester and Pearl together?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Despite the dark tone and dour mood of this novel, Hawthorne's narrative voice does offer some levity, irony and humor to lighten the mood at key points in this novel, including the irony in some of the chapter titles. Pick several examples of this irony, other forms of irony, archness/humor, and explain how these examples help lighten the mood.

Essay Topic 2

One theme of this novel is the competition between science and medicine on the one hand and religion on the other, particularly in terms of someone's physical well-being. Write an essay that describes the theme of sickness, health, and wellness (in terms of both the physical as well as the emotional/mental) that takes into account Hawthorne's dramatizing of a competition between science and medicine.

Essay Topic 3

Pearl is enigmatic, first because she is an infant and then because of her other-worldliness, but she plays a key role in structuring the narrative of Hester Prynne. Consider Pearl's function in this narrative--as a symbol, as a plot device, as well as as a character in her own right--and write an analytical essay that interprets how Pearl is characterized and the primary fictional methods Hawthorne uses to paint a picture of her.

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