View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What facial expression of Chillingworth displays his true malice, which the narrator calls "his blackness" in Chapter 14?
(a) A smile.
(b) A grimace.
(c) A wink.
(d) A shrug.

2. "Its ranks were filled with gentlemen, who felt the stirrings of martial impulse" describes which group of men in the procession referred to in the title of Chapter 22?
(a) The musicians.
(b) The clergy.
(c) The soliders.
(d) The public officials.

3. According to Dimmesdale, Chillingworth's revenge has been "____ than [his] sin"?
(a) Eviler.
(b) Blacker.
(c) Darker.
(d) Deeper.

4. What, in Chapter 13, "glimmers" with an "unearthly ray"?
(a) The meteor/falling star.
(b) Pearl's eyes.
(c) The scarlet letter.
(d) Chillingworth's malice.

5. Whom does Hester decide to seek out for a meeting at the end of Chapter 13?
(a) Her daughter.
(b) Her lover.
(c) Her (former) husband.
(d) Her confessor.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the holiday referred to in the title of Chapter 21?

2. Why do Hester and Dimmesdale chose the place they do to escape to?

3. How long did it take before Chillingworth died?

4. What is Hester wearing on the public holiday in Chapter 21?

5. What does Dimmesdale tell Chillingworth while he is writing the sermon is Chapter 20?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter 13, Hawthorne says that some people would think that Hester's scarlet letter stands for "Able." Why?

2. Why does Chillingworth attempt to stop Hester and Pearl from joining Dimmesdale on the scaffold?

3. Why does Hester go to meet Dimmesdale in the woods?

4. In Chapter 15, when Pearl asks Hester what the letter stands for, what does Hester reply?

5. Why will Hester and Dimmesdale have to head back to Europe, instead of moving somewhere more rural or remote?

6. Why does Hawthorne describe Pearl, in Chapter 19, as a "living hieroglyphic."

7. Why, in Chapter 18, does Hester remove the scarlet letter and fling it into a brook?

8. What, according to the narrator, enlivened the public holiday with "some diversity of hue?"

9. Why, at the end of the book, is Hester making a baby garment?

10. In Chapter 16, Hester changes her story to Pearl about the significance of the scarlet letter. What does she say about the letter in Chapter 16?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 972 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample