1. What, in your own opinion, is Hawthorne trying to tell us about marriage and its discontents? Explain and support your reasoning.

2. How realistic a figure is Mr. Bullfrog?

Assume for the sake of argument that there could be such a person, and try to describe the domestic life of Mr. and Mrs. Bullfrog. That is, apply Hawthorne's rule for a successful marriage to the Bullfrogs a year or two after their marriage, and describe factors that would strengthen their union, and factors that would weaken their union.

3. What is your opinion about Hawthorne's clearly laid out view, expressed as a simple rule, of what is required for a successful marriage? Do you think he was really serious or not very serious, when he made that rule so basic to the story of the Bullfrogs? How would you define "the real basis of matrimonial bliss"?

4. An old...