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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. Where are Dimmesdale's parents?
(a) In England.
(b) In Boston.
(c) Dead.
(d) In Salem.

2. What is NOT one of the possible crimes mentioned in this Chapter 2, as a reason people might flock to the prison?
(a) Religious heterodoxy.
(b) Sluggish bond servant.
(c) Undutiful child.
(d) Murder.

3. The title of Chapter 4, "The Interview," refers to the meeting between which two characters?
(a) Hester and Chillingworth.
(b) Chillingworth and Dimmesdale.
(c) Chillingworth and Bellingham.
(d) Hester and Dimmesdale.

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

5. "Hester at her WHAT" is the title of Chapter 5?
(a) Confession.
(b) Needle.
(c) Bedside.
(d) Wit's End.

Short Answer Questions

1. In what month does Chapter 1 take place?

2. From which city is this preface written?

3. Which field had Bellingham trained for/been educated in?

4. Who is NOT among the crowd shaming Hester?

5. How does the narrator describe the former queen of England, Elizabeth I?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What does the governor think about Hester as a mother?

3. What does Hester refuse to do during this chapter 3, despite pressure from her neighbors?

4. Why does Hawthorne say that it is ironic that Pearl is such a beautiful child, in Chapter 6?

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

6. How does Dimmesdale respond to his growing guilt? How does he punish himself?

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

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

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

10. What has happened to the original spirit of the town of Salem, as in, to the legacy of the original founders?

(see the answer keys)

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