The Scarlet LetterChapters 1 to 3

Questions for Reflection• Explore the reaction of the townspeople and of Hester herself as

she emerges from the prison and stands on the scaffold. Who do you find yourself siding with? Why? Do you think Hawthorne is loading the deck? Why? Why not?

• Examine a particular passage that you found confusing or excessively ornate. Reread it and develop an explanation of its meaning or linguistic significance.

• What is the irony of the narrator’s statement: “[S]he was conscious of a shelter in the presence of these thousand witnesses” (Hawthorne 70)? Where else might this ironic phenomenon occur?

• “There can be no outrage, methinks, against our common nature—whatever be the delinquencies of the individual—no outrage more flagrant than to forbid the culprit to hide his face for shame; as it was the essence of this punishment to do” (Hawthorne 63).

(1) The Prison Door

•Basic: Describe the prison door.

•Higher Level: Analyze the significance/symbolism of the prison door.

•Highest Level: Make an inference about Hawthorne’s perspective regarding Puritan society based on the significance/ symbolism of the prison door.

(2) The market Place

•Basic: Describe the scaffold scene.

•Higher Level: What are the most significant elements of Hester’s character developed through this sequence?

•Highest Level: Find a quote that exemplifies the superego, ego, and id involved in Hester’s punishment.

(2) The market PlaceHester’s Punishment

• Superego: “[It] befitted a people amongst whom religion and law were almost identical, and in whose character both were so thoroughly interfused, that the mildest and the severest acts of public discipline were alike made venerable and awful” (Hawthorne 58).

• Ego: “Those who…had expected to behold her dimmed…were astonished…to perceive how her beauty shone” (Hawthorne 61).

• Id: “At the very least, they should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne’s forehead…the naughty baggage” (Hawthorne 59).

(2) The market Place

•Identify Quotes/Textual Support For…•Political/Social Realities of Hester’s World

•Internal vs. External Life•The Scarlet Letter Itself•Emerging Symbols

(3) The Recognition

•Basic: What is “The Recognition”?

•Higher Level: Hawthorne's portrayal of the man in the courtyard emphasizes his physical deformity; what is the likely significance of this character trait?

•Highest Level: Make a prediction about how the narrative will unfold, based upon the man’s dialogue with townspeople and Hester’s response to his presence.

How to read literature like a Professor

Marked for Greatness

• QUASIMODO IS A HUNCHBACK. So is Richard III (Shakespeare’s, not history’s). Mary Shelley’s better-known creation, not Victor Frankenstein, but his monster, is a man of parts. Oedipus has damaged feet. And Grendel is another monster. All these characters are as famous for their shape as for their actions. Their shapes tell us something, and probably very different somethings, about them or other people in the story.

• Character markings can stand as indicators of the damage life inflicts.

• You doubt? How many stories do you know in which the hero is different from everyone else in some way, and how many times is that difference physically visible? Why does Harry Potter have a scar, where is it, how did he get it, and what does it resemble?

• Beyond [a damaged life], though, is another element: character differentiation.

• But more often than not physical markings by their very nature call attention to themselves and signify some psychological or thematic point the writer wants to make.

How to read literature like a Professor

The Scarlet LetterChapters 4 to 6

“The Recognition” and“The Interview”

•Basic (think about): Describe Chillingworth both physically and psychologically

•Higher Level (in journal): Compare and contrast Chillingworth’s reaction to Hester’s transgression with Hester’s reaction to his arrival.

“The Recognition” and“The Interview”

•Highest Level (in groups): Hawthorne uses characterization that describes Chillingworth as both a scholar and as someone with the potential for evil. What statement (theme) about knowledge and evil is Hawthorne attempting to establish?

“Hester at her Needle”

•Higher Level (in groups): Explore the symbolism of Hester’s dwelling; then, identify different quotes that show the symbolism of the scarlet letter, finding commonalities between these quotes.

“Hester at her Needle”

•Higher Level (in groups): Explain the irony of Hester’s “profession” – focus on the way she is viewed by society verses her function within it.

Highest Level (in groups): Explore the theme Hawthorne is establishing and explain how that theme resonates or fails to resonate in society today.

“pearl”

•Higher Level (in journal): •Identify different quotes that provide

characterization (direct or indirect) of Pearl…find commonalities between these quotes.

•Highest Level: Analyze the style (mood, tone, and voice) of the first paragraph of Chapter VI.

Hawthorne’s Voice

•What is Hawthorne’s general attitude towards Puritanism and Romanticism? How does one attitude lead to another?

•What is Hawthorne showing the reader about Puritanism? How does this emphasize Romanticism?

Literary Devices

• In literature, juxtaposition is a literary device wherein the author places a person, concept, place, idea or theme parallel to another. The purpose of juxtaposing two directly/indirectly related entities close together in literature is to highlight the contrast between the two and compare them. This literary device is usually used for etching out a character in detail, creating suspense or lending a rhetorical effect.

• A foil is a character who serves as a contrast to another perhaps more primary character, so as to point out specific traits of the primary character.