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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. Who inherited money and property from Chillingworth?

2. What is the title of Chapter 20?

3. What is Hester wearing on the public holiday in Chapter 21?

4. What color is the letter A Pearl fashions for herself out of natural objects ?

5. John Wilson is described as having what relationship to Dimmesdale?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Hester's heart sink when she sees Dimmesdale in the procession during the public holiday?

2. What does Pearl do with the seaweed she finds, and what does it show about her as a character?

3. Where does Dimmesdale go at the beginning of Chapter 12, and why?

4. Why does Hawthorne describe Pearl, in Chapter 19, as a "living hieroglyphic."

5. How does Hawthorne describe Dimmesdale, either physically or emotionally, at the beginning of Chapter 13?

6. According to the narrator, what appeared to be Dimmesdale's subject, in his sermon in Chapter 23?

7. How does the narrator describe the public officials in Chapter 22, many of whom were real historical figures (figures such as Bradstreet, Endicott, etc.)?

8. When Hester calls for Pearl to come to her in Chapter 19, Pearl will not move from her spot in the woods. What prevents her from going to her mother?

9. What kinds of thoughts occur to Dimmesdale when he sees a deacon on the way home in Chapter 20 and why?

10. Describe the three suspected causes of the "A" carved into Dimmesdale's chest.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

One major set of symbols in this work has to do with an interplay of the supernatural and the natural, both of which express various emotions or meanings at particular times in the book. Incorporating at least three examples from each category (three examples of the natural and three of the supernatural), define these concepts in terms of Hawthorne's novel, and interpret your examples in a comparative manner to show how they function in helping Hawthorne's narrator tell this story.

Essay Topic 2

The story starts with a mystery - the scrap of scarlet cloth Hawthorne finds in the Custom House - and builds narrative tension around an even greater mystery having to do with Pearl's parentage and Chillingworth's discovery. Describe the way "mystery" works in this novel: how and why does Hawthorne reveal or withhold key information from the reader?

Essay Topic 3

Hawthorne's preface to this novel claims that he has gotten himself in trouble for an unflattering portrait of the Customs Inspector, yet nonetheless, the novel features many real historical people anyway. Take up one of these real historical persons (for example, Governor Bellingham or Mistress Hibbins) and offer a descriptive analysis of their role in the narrative. How does Hawthorne characterize these real historical people? To what dramatic purposes or fictional ends does he put them alongside the invented characters? Be sure to consider the role these minor characters play in the historical setting of this novel.

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