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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 is mentioned in Chapter 13 as a "foundress of a religious sect?"

2. According to Dimmesdale, Chillingworth's revenge has been "____ than [his] sin"?

3. What facial expression of Chillingworth displays his true malice, which the narrator calls "his blackness" in Chapter 14?

4. Who is said to ride "with Satan through the air?"

5. Who in the audience taunts Hester and Pearl at the appearance of Dimmesdale?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter 13, Hawthorne says that some people would think that Hester's scarlet letter stands for "Able." Why?

2. How does Pearl decorate herself at the end of Chapter 18 differently from how she did in the woods when Hester met Chillingworth?

3. Why does Chillingworth attempt to stop Hester and Pearl from joining Dimmesdale on the scaffold?

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

5. 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?

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

7. Many people pass Dimmesdale by in this chapter; why are so many people up so late and walking about?

8. Why, in Chapter 18, does Hester remove the scarlet letter and fling it into a brook?

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

10. Why, at the end of the book, is Hester making a baby garment?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

Community pressure to fit in and conform plays a major role in this narrative, particularly as compared to individual desires, either simply for individuality of expression or desires for things that are not sanctioned by the community. Write an essay that explains how Hawthorne dramatizes the tension between the pressure to conform on one hand and the risk of social stigma on the other. (You may want to pick a character that represents each, as a way to begin this analysis.)

Essay Topic 3

The final chapter offers three explanations for the bloody "A" etched on Dimmesdale's chest. Explain what each of the three possibilities are, according to the narrator, and answer the following questions: Why does Hawthorne chose to leave the reason ambiguous? What does this ambiguity offer to the reader or to the narrative? If you were Hawthorne, would you have made the same choice, and why? And finally, which of the three explanations do you mind most likely, and why? Be sure to answer in terms of this narrative.

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