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. Where have Hester and Dimmesdale decided would be the best place to escape to?
(a) An Indian settlement.
(b) Europe.
(c) Salem.
(d) The American South.

2. What does Hester threaten to do at the end of Chapter 14?
(a) Betray Chillingworth's identity.
(b) Kill herself.
(c) Reveal the name of her lover.
(d) Escape Boston.

3. Who, according to the narrator, is at the "head of the social system" in Puritan times?
(a) Clergy.
(b) Governors.
(c) Witches.
(d) Doctors.

4. Who is mentioned in Chapter 13 as a "foundress of a religious sect?"
(a) Mother Theresa.
(b) Hutichison.
(c) Bradstreet.
(d) Hibbins.

5. How does the narrator characterize Dimmesdale's sermon?
(a) The narrator ignores it.
(b) The narrator disparages it.
(c) The narrator exhalts it.
(d) The narrator neither praises nor diminshes it.

Short Answer Questions

1. What, according to many of the townspeople who have come to appreciate Hester, should the A stand for?

2. How long did it take before Chillingworth died?

3. Who is the "grim, ugly-eyed old man" who recognizes Pearl?

4. Who in the audience taunts Hester and Pearl at the appearance of Dimmesdale?

5. According to the narrator, which of the following has NOT been one of Hester's "teachers"?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Many people pass Dimmesdale by in this chapter; why are so many people up so late and walking about?

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

4. Why does Hester's heart sink when she sees Dimmesdale in the procession during the public holiday?

5. In Chapter 14, what does Hester ask of Chillingworth?

6. Where does Dimmesdale go at the beginning of Chapter 12, and why?

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

8. 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?

9. What does Pearl do with the seaweed she finds, and what does it show about her as a character?

10. How does Hawthorne describe Dimmesdale, either physically or emotionally, at the beginning of Chapter 13?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 938 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample