scarlet letter 9-16

Question 0

Chillingworth presents himself as a __

Answer 0

Physician

Question 1

The word leech has a double meaning. Explain

Answer 1

A bug that sucks blood; leech can also be used to describe Chillingworth because he sucks the life out of Dimmesdale when he’s trying to heal him.

Question 2

Chillingworth chose __ as his spiritual guide

Answer 2

Dimmesdale

Question 3

At first, people believed that __ had sent Chillingworth to help Dimmesdale

Answer 3

A learned doctor trained at a German university

Question 4

What has become Dimmesdale’s “constant gesture”?

Answer 4

To put his hand over his heart

when he put his hand over his heart, blushed and then with a paleness that suggested pain

Question 5

Describe the living arrangements of Dimmesdale and Chillingworth.

Answer 5

They live together in a house near a cemetery. Chillingworth has a sophisticated laboratory and Dimmesdale has a room with all Protestant books

Question 6

What are the two topics of the tapestries on Dimmesdale’s walls?

Answer 6

They told the biblical story of of David and Bathsheba and Nathan the Prophet

Question 7

Over time, suspicions arise about Chillingworth’s past. Describe these suspicions.

Answer 7

• some had spoken to a handyman that said he had seen the doctor in the company of Dr. Forman, who murdered Sir Thomas Overbury
• Two or three people hinted that the doctor, during his captivity, had learned spells from the Indian priests
• Many reasonable people said that Roger Chillingworth had undergone a great physical change during his time in the town, particularly since he started rooming with Mr. Dimmesdale

Question 8

Chillingworth’s “aspect” has changed from….to….

Answer 8

calm, meditative, scholar-like (thoughtful and studious)

to his ugly and evil face

Question 9

Some people believe __ is satans emissary

Answer 9

Roger Chillingworth

Question 10

Describe the light in Chillingworth’s eyes.

Answer 10

a light glimmered in the doctor’s eyes, like the reflection of a furnace, or those terrifying lights that shined onto the pilgrim’s face from Bunyan’s awful
hillside doorway.

Question 11

Where did Chillingworth find the Herb with “the dark flabby leaf”?

Answer 11

in the graveyard; he found them growing on a grave that had no tombstone or marker

Question 12

Where is Pearl and what is she doing?

Answer 12

she was in the nearby graveyard, skipping from one grave to another

Question 13

What does she do with the burrs?

Answer 13

she decorated them around the scarlet letter that her mother was wearing

Question 14

What does Chillingworth tell Dimmesdale about “bodily disease”?

Answer 14

A bodily disease, which we think of as self-contained, may after all be merely a symptom of some spiritual ailment.

Question 15

Describe what happens when Dimmesdale is sleeping?

Answer 15

Roger Chillingworth, with no special care, came into the room. The doctor walked right up to his patient, laid his hand on his breast, and pushed aside the robe that had always hid his chest from the doctor’s eye.

Question 16

What do you think Chillingworth saw?

Answer 16

he might have seen a scarlet letter; he realized he is the baby’s father

Question 17

How does Dimmesdale’s congregation feel about him?

Answer 17

dimmesdale had gained popularity through his ministry while suffering with his bodily disease. his popularity was due in great part to his sorrows;
they imagined him to be the spokesman of Heaven delivering messages of wisdom and the ground he walked on was holy. older people wanted to be buried near the pastor’s grave, young women swooned when he came near struck by his passion

Question 18

How does Dimmesdale feel about “public veneration”?

Answer 18

it tortured him; he wanted to tell them that he was a completely corrupt fraud

Question 19

When Dimmesdale makes confessions about his unworthiness, the people react….

Answer 19

it only increased their admiration. They never imagined the true meaning lurking behind his words of self-condemnation

Question 20

what does Dimmesdale keep locked in a secret closet? What does he do with it? Why?

Answer 20

A bloody whip, he whipped himself and fasted as an act of penance, until his knees trembled beneath him

Question 21

Dimmesdale stand in the dark….(where?)

Answer 21

the platform where hester prynne had first been publicly shamed.

Question 22

When Dimmesdale shrieks, ________ and ________ look out the window

Answer 22

governor Belligham and Mistress Hibbins

Question 23

__________ passes on his way home, but he does not see Dimmesdale.

Answer 23

Reverend John Wilson

Question 24

Dimmesdale asks ______ and ______ to join him on the platform.

Answer 24

hester prynne and pearl

Question 25

When does Dimmesdale say he will do what Pearl wants him to do?

Answer 25

at the great judgement day; when they are before the throne of judgement

Question 26

Who does Pearl point to in the shadows? Why was he out tonight?

Answer 26

Roger Chillingworth, and he was out because he was on his way home from being with governor Winthrop when he saw a light

Question 27

What appears in the sky? Be specific.

Answer 27

A meteor cast, a red A

Question 28

The Sexton returns Dimmesdale’s ________. Explain

Answer 28

Black gloves, the sexton said that Sagan had dropped it there was a joke

Question 29

When the Sexton asks about the light in the sky last night, Dimmesdale says….

Answer 29

he had not heard about that

Question 30

The Sexton’s theory about the light is….

Answer 30

a great red letter A appeared in the sky which stood for angel; since governor winthrop had died that night and became an angel, it is fitting that there should be some sign to mark the event

Question 31

How old is Pearl

Answer 31

7

Question 32

“she never battled with the public, but submitted…” explain

Answer 32

uncomplainingly to its worst usage; She did not claim that the public owed her any compensation for her suffering. She never begged for sympathy.

Question 33

what act of charity/ mercy does Hester perform?

Answer 33

she gave to the needy and poor and helped the sick

Question 34

instead of the scarlet letter’s “original signification” many now say it means,,,

Answer 34

She was so helpful, with so much power to aid and to sympathize, that many refused to recognize the A for its original meaning. They said that it stood for “able,” so strong a woman was Hester Prynne.

Question 35

when the townspeople brag about “the town’s own Hester” to strangers, they also tell the strangers…

Answer 35

The scandals of her past

Question 36

“even the attractiveness of her person had undergone a similar change” explain how hester has changed

Answer 36

Her hair was cut off or hidden by her cap, her firm evoked no passion, and her bosom incited no thoughts of affection

Question 37

the narrator compares Hester with ___, a female religious leader during the Puritan period.

Answer 37

ann hutchinson

Question 38

Who does Hester see in the forest? Why is he there?

Answer 38

roger chillingworth; he stooped along the ground, searching for roots and herbs with which to make his medicines.

Question 39

chillingworth tells Hester the council debated whether or not to remove the scarlet letter. Hester says it is not their decision to make; when the time comes, the scarlet letter will…

Answer 39

it would simply fall away—or be transformed into something that would convey a different message.”

Question 40

Explain the significance of the references to fire

Answer 40

there was a constant red light in Dimmesdales eyes, as if the old man’s soul was on fire. It seemed to smolder and smoke in his breast until some passing wind of passion ignited it into a brief flame. He would put out that fire as quickly as possible and attempt to look as though nothing had happened.

Question 41

Chillingworth tells Hester she had no choice but to keep his identity a secret because

Answer 41

“If I had pointed my finger at Dimmesdale, he would have been thrown from his pulpit into prison—and perhaps from there to the gallows!”

Question 42

when chillingworth seeks revenge and acts to punish he is acting like _____ (who should judge? who should punish?)

Answer 42

devil

Question 43

chillingworth blames ___ for the fact that he has become a “fiend”!

Answer 43

Hester

Question 44

why does Chillingworth say he never sought revenge against Hester?

Answer 44

because the scarlet letter was enough

Question 45

“It is our fate, let the black flower blossom as it may” What core Puritan belief is similar to Chillingworth’s description of “fate”?

Answer 45

2nd core belief, in which puritans believed in original sin. The fall of adam and eve from God’s Grace meant all people were born sinful and were more likely to be inclined toward evil than good

Question 46

who does Hester say she hates? Why do you think she feels this way?

Answer 46

roger chillingworth; “He betrayed me! He has done worse to me than I ever did to him!” and he’s torturing dimmesdale

Question 47

What does Pearl do with eel grass?

Answer 47

she Pearl took some eelgrass and imitated on her bosom, as best she could, the decoration that she was so used to seeing on her mother’s. the letter A—but green instead of scarlet.

Question 48

What questions does Pearl repeatedly ask Hester?
a.
b.
c.

Answer 48

What does the letter mean, mother? And why do you wear it? And why does the minister keep his hand over his heart?”

Question 49

when Hester becomes angry with Pearl, she threatens to..

Answer 49

shut you away in the dark closet!”

Question 50

Who might Dimmesdale have visited among the Indian converts? Apostle _____

Answer 50

Apostle Eliot

Question 51

Pearl wants Hester to tell a story about…

Answer 51

story about the Black Man Tell me how he haunts this forest, carrying a big, heavy book, with iron clasps. Tell how this ugly Black Man offers his book and an iron pen to everyone who meets him here among the trees. Tell how they write their names with their own blood, and then he sets his mark on their chests.

Question 52

Hester says she met him (#2) once and…

Answer 52

This scarlet letter is his mark

Question 53

how does the minister look?

Answer 53

worn and weak