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The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Photo of Old State House, 1870, from the Bostonian Society. What were the two purposes of Hawthorne’s essay “The Custom-House”?. Depict his enemies as idiots Be the prologue for The Scarlet Letter. The Scarlet Letter is America’s first….
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The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne Photo of Old State House, 1870, from the Bostonian Society
What were the two purposes of Hawthorne’s essay “The Custom-House”? • Depict his enemies as idiots • Be the prologue for The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter is America’s first… • True psychological novel
Describe Hester Prynne. • Beautiful • Loving • Loyal to love • True to herself
Describe Roger Chillingworth. • Hester’s husband • Sends her ahead to the New World • Motivated by revenge • Using a fake name
Describe Arthur Dimmesdale. • Hester’s lover • Loving • Guilt-ridden • Eventually finds courage to stand up for love
Describe Pearl. • Hester & Dimmesdale’s daughter • Name shows her as symbol of overcoming adversity
What is Hester’s crime? • adultery
What is Hester’s punishment (three parts)? • Jail time • Stand on scaffold for a day • Wear scarlet (red) “A” on chest for ever
Who advocated mercy for Hester? • Dimmesdale
Why hasn’t Hester seen her husband in a long time? • Two years ago, he sent her alone to the new world
Explain the symbol of the rosebush outside the prison. • The beautiful rosebush outside the ugly prison, a place of pain, symbolizes Hester who is a bit of goodness and beauty in this bleak Puritan society.
How do people treat Hester after her release from prison? • They won’t talk to her • They still buy her beautiful embroidered items. Photo by Aimee Ray
What does Chillingworth want? • To find out the name of Hester’s lover • To get revenge on Hester’s lover
What do Hester and Dimmesdale plan to do? How does Chillingworth try to ruin their plans? • They are going to take a boat to England. • Chillingworth books passage on the same boat.
What is Dimmesdale’s triumph? • He delivers the greatest sermon of his life • He reveals that he was Hester’s lover • He shows his self-injury to the crowd
What happens to Chillingworth after the big revelation? • He dies within the year
How does Hester redeem herself and change the symbolism of the scarlet “A” she has worn? • She nurses the sick and helps the needy • She is always accepting of everyone • The “A” comes to be a symbol of mercy
Explain the difference between sins of passion and sins of principle. • A sin of passion comes from strong feelings, like love • A sin of principle is a coldly calculated violation of someone else’s soul
What is a “romance” and how is it different from a novel? • A romance is a prose narrative that deals with its subjects and characters in a symbolic, imaginative and non-realistic way • A novel is realistic; a romance is not