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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. One person suggest that Hester should have an iron brand burned where?
(a) On the palms of her hands.
(b) On her forehead.
(c) On her chest.
(d) On her cheek.

2. What, at the end of Chapter 11, is the "only truth" for Dimmesdale?
(a) "The malice in Chillingworth's eyes."
(b) "The mercy of almightly Heaven."
(c) "The joy in his beating heart."
(d) "The anguish in his inmost soul."

3. What is the title of the first chapter?
(a) The Prison Rose.
(b) The Prison-Door.
(c) TheJail-Door.
(d) Gaol-Door Rock.

4. What is the title of Chapter 3?
(a) The Recognizance.
(b) The Recognition.
(c) The Resistance.
(d) The Meeting.

5. Which character says, ironically, "why should a wretched man, guilty, we will say, of murder, prefer to keep the dead corpse buried in his own heart, rather than fling it forth at once"?
(a) Hester.
(b) Wilson.
(c) Chillingworth.
(d) Dimmesdale.

Short Answer Questions

1. In what month does Chapter 1 take place?

2. What is one of Chillingworth's distinguishing physical features?

3. Which description does not apply to Dimmesdale?

4. Who is with the governor when Hester visits his house to deliver something?

5. Which one of the following descriptions does not apply to Pearl?

Short Essay Questions

1. Of all the finery in the governor's mansion, what does Pearl cry for most of all?

2. Does Hawthorne, in the end, decide to change anything?

3. Why does Hester stay in town after she is released from jail in Chapter 5?

4. 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"?

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

6. How is Chillingworth able to see what Dimmesdale is hiding on his body?

7. What is Dimmesdale's argument for keeping Hester and Pearl together?

8. How does Hawthorne describe the inhabitants of Boston?

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

10. Describe the clothing worn by the "throng of bearded men" at the beginning of Chapter 1.

(see the answer keys)

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