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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Chose which of the following best describes the tone in the last sentence of Chapter 1?
(a) Bright.
(b) Ambivalent.
(c) Somber.
(d) Sunny.

2. What adjective best characterizes the governor's house?
(a) Cramped.
(b) Opulent.
(c) Baroque.
(d) Plain.

3. While his health is failing, Dimmesdale has achieved what in his profession?
(a) "Populist ire."
(b) "Brillant popularity."
(c) "Sanctimonius reputation."
(d) "Sturdier texture."

4. According to Hawthorne, the reaction could not have been more violent if...?
(a) He had committed adultery.
(b) He had burned down the Custom-House.
(c) He had kidnapped someone.
(d) He had murdered someone.

5. The following description of someone's eyes in Chapter 10 refers to which character: "burning blue and ominous, like the reflection of a furnace....like one of those gleams of ghastly fire"?
(a) Dimmesdale.
(b) Chillingworth.
(c) Hester.
(d) Pearl.

Short Answer Questions

1. The following description of clothing belongs to which community leader: "a dark feather in his hat, a border of embroidery on his cloak, and a black velvet tunic beneath"?

2. Who was the father of the Custom-House?

3. Hawthorne utterly disclaims what kind of motives?

4. Who is to wear the thing Hester is delivering to the governor's house?

5. The title of Chapter 8 is the what and "the Minister?"

Short Essay Questions

1. As the relationship between Chillingworth and Dimmesdale develops in Chapter 9, what do the townspeople begin to suspect about Dimmesdale and why?

2. What kind of skill does Hester use to support herself?

3. Why does Hawthorne decide to republish the offending introduction?

4. Why does Dimmesdale not see through Chillingworth and understand his true (nefarious) agenda, according to the narrator in Chapter 10?

5. Name one of the two reasons Hawthorne suspects that the plant standing outside the prison survived.

6. Why is Hester standing before the townsfolk in the beginning of the novel?

7. Describe the people referred to as the five in the following quotation: "If the hussy stood for judgment before us five, that are now here in a knot together"?

8. What are some examples of Chillingworth's growing power over Dimmesdale?

9. What happens to Hester when the jailer introduces Chillingworth?

10. What does Hawthorne find alongside the scarlet letter?

(see the answer keys)

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