The Scarlet Letter Study Guide

1. Hawthorne completed The Scarlet Letter in what year?

• 1820
• 1850
• 1900
• 1950

2. Why did Hawthorne write the Custom-House introduction to the novel?

• he was interested in the economic side of adultery
• he thought The Scarlet Letter was too short to print by itself
• he wanted to describe how he "discovered" the manuscript
• he wanted to write an autobiographical short story

3. The prison door best represents which of the following?

• a dirty, rusted old door separating Hester from her daughter
• Puritanical severity of law and the authority of the regime
• the strength of Hester's determination to live with her crime
• an escape route for Hester

4. The rosebush outside the prison door is a symbol of all of the following except:

• Hester's passion
• Puritanical punishment for moral crimes
• the wilderness surrounding Boston
• Ann Hutchinson's tolerance of other religions

5. The blossoms of the rosebush are metaphors for:

• Hester's passion and her marriage to Roger Chillingworth
• Pearl and the crime of the story
• Pearl and the moral of the story
• Dimmesdale's love for Hester

6. Hawthorne's portrayal of the Puritanical society is one of:

• contradictory images and hypocrisy
• support for the Puritan way of life
• disgust with the Puritan way of life
• none of the above

7. Hester has embroidered what symbol onto her dress?

• a scarlet letter A
• a bird for freedom
• a rose blossom
• a round pearl

8. What gesture does Reverend Dimmesdale make throughout the book?

• rubs his brow
• pulls at his shirt sleeves
• raises his eyes to heaven
• places his hand over his heart

9. All of the following ironies occur in the first scaffold scene except:

• the irony that Dimmesdale is called upon to ask Hester who the father is
• the irony that Pearl will bring Hester and Dimmesdale back together
• the irony that Hester is married to Chillingworth but has had a child with another man
• the irony that Chillingworth chides Hester from the crowd, asking her to reveal the father

10. Chillingworth pretends to be of what profession?

• a doctor
• a lawyer
• a clergyman
• an infantryman