About the Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne

• 1804-1864• Born in Salem, Massachusetts • Great-great-grandson of a judge in the

Salem witchcraft trials (1692)– 20 “witches” executed

• Often dealt with themes of sin and guilt• Believed Puritanism undermined

morality rather than strengthening it

About the Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne

• Wrote during the late Romantic Period (mid-1800s)– Style: complex syntax, elevated diction– Valued imagination over reason– Nature as source of inspiration and comfort (city = corrupt)– Reliance on intuition– Utopian projects (Brook Farm experiment)– “Dark Romantics” (Hawthorne included) focused on

existence of evil and suffering in human life• Concerned with “truths of the human heart” rather than

external truth

Context• Published in 1850• Set in Boston in the 1650s• Considered risqué at the time because

of its subject matter: adultery• First internationally respected

American novel• First truly symbolic American novel• “The Custom House”

– Added introduction– Describes Hawthorne’s discovery of a

ragged scarlet letter “A”

Crime and Punishment in Puritan America

• The Laws and Liberties of Massachusetts (1648)– A revision of a 1641 code written by a Puritan minister– Separation of church and state? Nope.

• For the Puritans, all sin was a crime.– Sin = an immoral act considered to be a transgression

against divine law– Punishable behaviors: religious heresy, fornication,

adultery, gossiping, not attending church . . . and much more.

Crime and Punishment in Puritan America

• Punishment was usually public– Scaffold: a platform on which a criminal is

executed (as by hanging or beheading)– Pillory: a device used for publicly punishing

offenders consisting of a wooden frame with holes in which the head and hands can be locked

Q: Are shame and embarrassment effective deterrents?

• Definitions from Merriam-Webster.com

Chapter 1• Setting established (Boston 1650s)

• Irony: Utopia / cemeteries & prisons

• #1—First portrayal of Puritans? (1)

– “sad-colored garments” “gray hats”

– Tone?

• #2—Symbolism of rosebush? (2)

– Nature’s sympathy and comfort (for the criminal)

– “moral blossom” amidst a tale of suffering (for the reader)

– Connects Hester with “sainted” Ann Hutchinson

Chapter 2

• “Grim rigidity” of crowd outside prison

• New England women (see M.C. passage)

#3: What is Hester’s demeanor as she emerges from her prison cell? (6)

Chapter 2• Irony of the A (6)• Ascends scaffold

– Allusion to Virgin Mary and baby Jesus• Hester as contrast to “sacred image of sinless

motherhood”• Child tainted by mother’s sin

Sassoferrato

Michelangelo

Raphael

Chapter 2

• Crowd at the scaffold– “awe” “stern” “sombre and grave”– Lack of laughter and ridicule makes Hester

uncomfortable• Perspective on scaffold

– Flashbacks: village in England, family, husband, herself

– Description of husband? (12)

Chapter 2

#4: Is there a significance to Hester’s viewing the crowd from atop the scaffold?

Chapter 3• If you found out your boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife-

dreamy-significant-other cheated on you, would you be more upset with that person OR the person he/she was cheating with? Why?

Chapter 3: The Recognition

• Hester recognizes husband (13)– Standing with Indian– “clad in a strange disarray of civilised and savage

costume”– “Slight deformity” visible– Hester clutches baby (cries out)– Better than private meeting

Chapter 3• Husband recognizes Hester (14)

– Read reaction (p. 14)—What “powerful emotion” do you suspect?

– Interview with townsman• Difficulty at sea, captivity with

Indians• Irony: “The learned man . . .

should come himself, to look into this mystery” (15)

• “But he will be known!—he will be known!—he will be known!” (16)

Chapter 3• Officials address Hester from meeting house

balcony– Governor Bellingham (17)—elderly,

embroidered cloak– Rev. John Wilson (17)—eldest clergyman,

scholarly, ashamed of his kindness– Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale (19)

• How is Dimmesdale first characterized?

Chapter 3

• Exhortation to reveal father

– Dimmesdale’s speech (19-20)

• Arguments used?

– Wilson’s offer to remove letter (21)

– Hester’s response and what it reveals about her character (22)

Chapter 3• Gothic influence (see handout)• Examples

– “A writhing horror twisted itself across his features, like a snake gliding swiftly over them . . .” (14)

– “seemed to derive its scarlet hue from the flames of the infernal pit” (21)– “the scarlet letter threw a lurid gleam along the dark passageway of the

interior” (22)

Chapter 4• #5—Describe Roger Chillingworth in the

scene in which he visits Hester in jail.

http://www.economist.com/node/18226821?story_id=18226821

Chapter 4• Hester in a “state of nervous excitement,” child “writh[ing]

in convulsions of pain” (23)• Visit from “physician Roger Chillingworth”

– Medicinal herbs and roots (Indian influence)– Mentions past studies in alchemy (24)

• Search to turn metals into gold• Search for “elixir of life”

– Allusions to Greek mythology—Lethe (river of forgetfulness), Nepenthe (drug of forgetfulness)

– Secular (worldly) knowledge base!!– Offers “draught” (drink)—sedative

Chapter 4• Doesn’t seek vengeance on Hester

– “We have wronged each other” (27)• Vows to find father (28-29)

– Repeated alchemy reference (playing God)– “I shall read it on his heart.”

• #6—Why does Chillingworth ask Hester to keep his identity a secret? (29)

• Association with “Black Man” / threat of a “ruined soul" (29)

Chapter 5• #7—Why does Hester remain in

Boston?– Bound by her sin and “ignominy” (shame) (32)– Emotionally and spiritually connected to her

lover (33)– Need to purge her sin through her shame (33)

• Location of new home?

• #8—How does Hester support herself and her daughter?

Chapter 5• Hester’s needle-work

– Irony of her talent?

– Hypocrisy—extravagance forbidden

by law (35)

– Worn by governor, military men,

minister, babies

– Only item she never embroidered?

• Gifts and service to charity (36)

• #9—How is Hester treated by the townspeople?

• Sympathetic throb of the A (39)

Chapter 6: “Pearl”• Origin of her name (41)

– Allusion to biblical parable– Treasure purchased at a great price

(41)—What “price”?• Personality

– “infinite variety” “mutability” (changeability) “flightiness” “caprice” (impulsiveness) (42-44)

– “The child could not be made amenable [agreeable] to rules” (42)

– Product of her mother’s passion (43)*

Chapter 6: “Pearl”

• Is she human? (44)

– “airy sprite” “little elf” “imp of evil” (44-45)

– Town’s conclusion— “demon offspring” (50)

• Shunned by Puritan children

• Creates playmates from nature

– “She never created a friend.” (47)

Chapters 6-7

• Pearl’s association with the A

– First object she notices on her mother (48)

– Throws flower at A (49)

– Embodiment of the A (52-53)

Q: What do Pearl and the scarlet letter have in common?

Chapter 7: “The Governor’s Hall”

• Twofold purpose of the visit (51)

– Deliver gloves

– Protect right to keep Pearl

• Symbolism of the sunshine? (54)*

• Symbolism of the reflection in armor? (56-57)*

Opening Activity: Chapters 8-9

• Referencing the page numbers provided, list words and phrases that indicate how each character has changed since the novel’s opening:– Dimmesdale (64, 71)– Chillingworth (63, 78-79)

Chapter 8: “The Elf-Child and the Minister”

• Characters gathered?• Pearl as exotic bird (60)• Hester’s arguments to keep Pearl

– Can teach Pearl what she learned from the letter (61)*

– Given by God as a blessing and punishment (“retribution”) (63)

– Nothing else to live for (64)• Failed catechism / Hester panics

• Dimmesdale’s supporting arguments (64-65)– Mother’s instinct and sacred

mother/daughter bond– Given by God as a blessing and

punishment– Preserves Hester from further sin

• Pearl’s tender gesture and reciprocation (66)*

• Invitation to forest from Mistress Hibbins (67)– Ann Hibbins executed for witchcraft in

1656

Chapter 8: “The Elf-Child and the Minister”

“You speak, my friend, with a strange earnestness,” said old Roger Chillingworth, smiling at him.

Chapter 9: “The Leech”• Leech: archaic term for

“physician” . . . also a blood-sucking parasite!

• Chillingworth as “doctor”– Reliance on native medicines and

primitive equipment– Provides “providential” help to

Dimmesdale (irony of town’s perception) (72)

– Suspects mental/emotional root (75)*

True or False?

• Mental, emotional, and/or spiritual problems can cause physical sickness.

• Symptoms of major depressive disorder from Web MD:

http://www.webmd.com/depression/guide/major-depression

Chapter 9: “The Leech”• One Happy Family: Chillingworth &

Dimmesdale as roommates– Live with widow– Next to cemetery– Dimmesdale’s apartment: tapestry of David

and Bathsheba– Chillingworth: study and laboratory

Chapters 8-9: Transformations• Dimmesdale (64, 71)

– Careworn, emaciated, pained eyes, nervous gesture (hand over heart)

• Chillingworth (63, 78-79)

– Uglier, darker complexion, more misshapen

– Evil in his face, laboratory fed by flames of hell, association with Satan

Chapter 10: “The Leech and His Patient”

• Symbolism of dark weed growing from grave? (83)– Dimmesdale’s excuses for

silence– Chillingworth’s accusations?

(84-85)*

• Chillingworth probes Dimmesdale – Similes: like a miner, sexton (gravedigger),

and thief (81-82)—effect?

• Pearl connects Dimmesdale with A (burrs)

• Pearl labels Chillingworth “Black Man”—child’s instinct (86)

• Chillingworth urges Dimmesdale to confess spiritual problem (88)

• The Discovery (89-90)

Chapter 10: “The Leech and His Patient”

Chapter 11: “The Interior of a Heart”• Chillingworth as tormentor (91-92)*

• Irony of Dimmesdale’s popularity (93-94)*

• Private punishment (96)*

1. Scourge

2. Fasting

3. Nighttime vigils

• Cliffhanger ending—where is he going? (97)

Q: Do you sympathize with Dimmesdale?

Chapter 12: “The Minister’s Vigil”

• Dimmesdale’s twin “sisters”: Remorse vs. Cowardice (100)

• Signs of lunacy on scaffold– “Shrieked aloud” (100)– Imagined conversation with

Rev. Wilson– Vision of townspeople

flocking toward scaffold• Pearl’s question and

Dimmesdale’s response—What is she really asking? (104-105) “The three

formed an electric chain.”

Chapter 12: “The Minister’s Vigil”• Gothic elements of scaffold scene

– Vision of Puritan townspeople—disheveled appearances (103)

– Red “A” flashes across sky with “dull red light” (107) (Interpretations?)

– Chillingworth’s evil expression lit up by meteor (107)

Q: What is the significance of Dimmesdale standing on the scaffold in this chapter?

Chapter 13: “Another View of Hester”• Hester’s transformation

– Changed reputation in the town (A = Able) (113)

– Suppressed femininity and foreshadowing of “magic touch” to restore it (115)

– Free thinking / connection with Ann Hutchinson (116)

– Reflection on futility of womanhood (117)

Q: Having seen what has become of Dimmesdale, what has Hester resolved to do?

Chapter 13: “Another View of Hester”

“The scarlet letter had not done its office.”

What does this mean?

Chapter 14: “Hester and the Physician”

• Town considers removing letter (122)• Chillingworth as devil (122-123)

– Self-recognition (124-125)*• Hester vows to reveal identity• Chillingworth refuses to let up or

forgive– “He has but increased the debt!”

(125)– Claims powerlessness at hands of

“black flower” of fate (127)

Chapter 15: “Hester and Pearl”• Hester’s hatred and Chillingworth as perpetrator of “foulest

offense” (130)

• Pearl’s identification with nature

– Sorrow at striking sea birds

“as wild as herself” (131)

• Pearl’s fascination with the A (132-135)

– Fashions one for herself

– Curiosity: “What does the letter mean?”

– Instinct: “It is for the same reason that the minister keeps his hand over his heart!”

• Hester’s lie (134) Q: Why does Hester lie to Pearl about the meaning of the A?

Chapter 16: “A Forest Walk”• Reasons for seeking Dimmesdale in forest? (137)

• Sun embraces Pearl, hides from Hester—symbolism? (138-139)

• Comparison of Pearl and brook (141)

– Mysterious source and shadowed gloom

– Foreshadowing of sorrow to “humanize” (139, 141)

• Pearl and the Black Man (140-143)

– Curiosity: Has Hester met him?

– Instinct: Left mark on Dimmesdale

Q: What is the effect and/or author’s purpose in having Pearl ask so many nagging questions in chapters 15-16?

Chapter 17: “The Pastor and his Parishioner”OR, “The Lovers-Rendezvous-in-Forest Scene”

• Opening imagery of shadow and gloom (145-146)

• Dimmesdale’s reaction to Hester’s revelation?• Questioning the nature of sin (150)

– “He has violated, in cold blood, the sanctity of the human heart.”

– “What we did had a consecration of its own.”• Plan to escape

Sanctity: holiness, sacredness

Consecration: dedication to a holy purpose

Chapter 17

Q: Does The Scarlet Letter as a whole (so far) seem to support Hester’s claim that her affair with Dimmesdale was “consecrated”? What is the narrator’s attitude toward their relationship?

Chapter 18: “A Flood of Sunshine”

• Pearl’s identification with nature (159-160)

– Wolf “offered his savage head to be patted by her hand”

– Adorns herself with flowers

• “Nymph” “dryad”

• Comparison of Hester and Dimmesdale’s preparedness for escape (155-156)

• Hester removes the letter—symbolism? (157)

• Removal of cap and restored femininity (158)

• Flood of sunshine—symbolism? (158)

Chapter 19: “The Child at the Brookside”• Brook as “boundary between two worlds”• Pearl’s reaction to seeing Hester without the A?• Pinning the A back on = return of shadow and gloom, lost

femininity• Pearl’s questions and response to Dimmesdale?

Q: Chapters 16-19 take place in the forest. What role does the forest—and Nature as a whole—play in these chapters? What does the forest symbolize and/or do for the characters?

Chapter 20: “The Minister in a Maze”

• Temptations

– Speak blasphemy to deacon

– Argue against immortality with widow

– Give dirty look to young virgin

– Teach dirty words to Puritan kids

– Tell dirty jokes with drunken sailor

• Plan to leave in four days (after Election Day sermon)

• Another transformation

– Dimmesdale energized and excited

Chapter 20: “The Minister in a Maze”

• Encounter with Mistress Hibbins• Met by Chillingworth and mutual understanding

(enemies!) (178-179)– Which phrases create verbal irony?

Q: How do you interpret the title of the chapter? How is Dimmesdale in a “maze”?

Chapter 21: “The New England Holiday”

• Hester’s “marble quietude” and Pearl’s “effervescence” (bubbly behavior)

• Characterization of crowd– Puritans: relatively joyful

*see commentary on pp. 186-187– Indians: grave, “wild,” “barbarians”– Mariners: “wildest” part of scene

• News from shipmaster and Chillingworth’s secretive smile

Chapter 22: “The Procession”• Extended description of the procession = building

mood & suspense

• Hester quiets Pearl—market vs. forest (195)

• Mistress Hibbins foreshadows disclosure (196-197)

• Dimmesdale’s speech—undertone of pain

• News from shipmaster—Chillingworth’s offer to accompany Dimmesdale

Q: What is Mistress Hibbins’ role in the book?

Chapter 22: “The Procession”• Antithesis at end of chapter

– “The sainted minister in the church! The woman of the scarlet letter in the market place! What imagination would have been irreverent enough to surmise that the same scorching stigma was on them both!” (201)

• Antithesis: the rhetorical contrast of ideas by means of parallel arrangements of words, clauses, or sentences (from merriamwebster.com)

Chapter 23: “The Revelation of the Scarlet Letter”

• Dimmesdale “repels” Wilson’s help—why important? (206)• Scaffold as “escape” from Chillingworth (207-208)• Supported by Hester’s strength (207)• Tone of Dimmesdale’s speech? (209-211)• The Revelation (210)• Pearl’s kiss and “broken spell” (210)

Q: What is the meaning of Chillingworth’s final words to Dimmesdale—why is the scaffold the only place where Dimmesdale can “escape” him?

Chapter 24: “Conclusion”

• Explanations for Dimmesdale’s letter (213)

1. Self-inflicted torture as penance

2. Produced by Chillingworth’s drugs

3. Produced by the “tooth of remorse”

Q: Read the narrator’s description of these possibilities closely. Which seems most consistent with the rest of the novel? Does the narrator seem to encourage one theory over the others?

Chapter 24: “Conclusion”• What happens to Chillingworth? Pearl?

Hester?• Hester’s reasons to return (217)

– “more real life”– “Here had been her sin; here, her sorrow;

and here was yet to be her penitence.”• Coming full circle

– Moral on p. 215 (“Be true! Be true!”)—connection to rosebush

– Shared tombstone in cemetery

Quiz: Chapter 6-7

1. Chapter 6 (“Pearl”) offers a thorough characterization of Pearl. What are her prominent character traits?

2. How does Pearl amuse herself as a child?

3. In chapter 6, what does Pearl throw at the scarlet letter on Hester’s chest?

4. Why does Hester go to Governor Bellingham’s mansion?

5. While at the governor’s mansion, Pearl asks for two things. Identify one of them.

Quiz: Ch 1-8

1. What is outside of the prison door?2. What is unusual about the appearance of

Hester’s husband?3. What “sympathy” does the letter give Hester?4. What was the first object Pearl noticed as a

baby?5. How does Pearl treat the Reverend

Dimmesdale at the end of chapter 8?6. What is the name of the magistrate’s widow

who is thought to be a witch?

Quiz: The Scarlet Letter ch. 9-12

1. Who becomes Roger Chillingworth’s roommate?

2. What object in chapter 10, taken by Chillingworth from the cemetery, symbolizes hidden guilt?

3. What does Pearl do with the burrs in the cemetery? (2 things)

4. True or false: As Dimmesdale’s guilt grows, his ability to touch the souls of others steadily decreases.

5. What does Pearl ask Dimmesdale as they stand on the scaffold?

6. The town interprets the “A” in the sky to stand for __________.

Quiz: The Scarlet Letter ch. 19-20

1. How does Pearl react to seeing Hester without the A? Describe her actions.

2. Who pins the scarlet letter back on Hester’s chest?3. Dimmesdale is scheduled to preach at what event

before he and Hester leave for Europe?4. On his way back from the forest, Dimmesdale is

tempted to perform wicked acts. Give one example.5. How does Dimmesdale treat Chillingworth when the

two meet?Extra Credit: Name the woman who accuses Dimmesdale

of visiting the forest and then says she will meet him again in the forest at midnight.