The Scarlet Letter Study Guide Chapter One: The Prison Door

1. What colony is the setting for the novel? Where does the opening chapter take place?
Pg._____

2. For what two “practical necessities” did the new colony set aside land? Pg._____

3. What conclusion can you come to about the importance of Anne Hutchinson?
Pg._____

4. What two possible symbols does the rose have for the reader? Pg._____

The Scarlet Letter Study Guide Chapter Two: The Market Place
1. What is the relationship between religion and the law in Puritan New England?
Pg._____

2. What punishments would the Puritan women have given Hester Prynne if it were left
to them?

3. Describe the appearance of Hester Prynne. Pg._____

4. What is Hester’s sin? Punishment? Pg._____

5. What is interesting about the “A” on her bodice? Pg._____

6. Why is Hester taken to the scaffold in the market-place? Pg._____

7. What things does Hester think about while she is on the scaffold? Pg._____

8. How old is her baby? Pg._____

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9. What detail is given to suggest that the baby was born in jail? Pg. _____

The Scarlet Letter Study Guide Chapter Three: The Recognition

1. Describe the man who is standing on the outskirts of the crowd. Pg._____

2. What gesture does he make to Hester that suggests he knows her? Pg._____

3. What does the stranger learn from the townsman next to him? Pg._____

4. What is the usual punishment for adultery? Why is Hester’s punishment less severe?
Pg._____

5. What are Hester’s feelings towards the stranger? Pg._____

6. Who is Bellingham? John Wilson? What do they want Hester to do? Pg._____

7. Describe Dimmesdale. Pg. _____

8. What does Dimmesdale ask Hester to do? Pg._____

9. Why won’t Hester name the child’s father? Pg._____

The Scarlet Letter Study Guide Chapter Four: The Interview

1. How does Hester act when she returns to prison? Pg._____

2. Why does the jailer call a doctor? Pg._____

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3. Where did the doctor learn his skill? Pg._____

4. Quote at least one line that shows the doctor and Hester knew each other before now.
Pg._____

5. What is the relationship between Chillingworth and Hester? Pg._____

6. Why should Hester’s marriage be a failure? Pg._____

7. Did Hester ever love her husband? Pg._____

8. What does Chillingworth vow to do? Pg._____

9. What secret does Chillingworth ask Hester to keep? Pg._____

10. What symbol is introduced for Chillingworth in Hester’s final lines in this chapter?
Pg._____

The Scarlet Letter Study Guide Chapter Five: Hester at Her Needle
1. What “general symbol” has Hester become? Pg._____

2. Give at least two reasons Hester does not leave the colony. Pg._____

3. Describe Hester’s home. Pg._____

4. What talent did Hester use to support herself and Pearl? Pg._____

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5. What garments is Hester not allowed to touch? Pg._____

6. What type of dress did Hester wear? Pearl? Pg._____

7. What does Hester do that shows she has a charitable nature? Pg._____

8. How did the poor, the ladies of Boston, the clergy, and the children treat Hester?
Pg._____

9. What special knowledge does Hester feel the scarlet letter gives her? Pg.____