View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who retrieves the object that Hester flings away?

2. When Hester exclaims "better he had died at once!," to whom is she referring in Chapter 14?

3. When Dimmesdale exclaims, "O Thou to whom I dare not life mine eyes," whom is he addressing?

4. What is the title of Chapter 14?

5. What facial expression of Chillingworth displays his true malice, which the narrator calls "his blackness" in Chapter 14?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Why, in Chapter 18, does Hester remove the scarlet letter and fling it into a brook?

3. Why do Hester and Pearl gather with other townspeople at the beginning of Chapter 21?

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

7. Describe the three suspected causes of the "A" carved into Dimmesdale's chest.

8. How does the narrator describe the public officials in Chapter 22, many of whom were real historical figures (figures such as Bradstreet, Endicott, etc.)?

9. When Dimmesdale refuses to travel and quit his post as minister, how does Hester change his mind?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

One major set of symbols in this work has to do with an interplay of the supernatural and the natural, both of which express various emotions or meanings at particular times in the book. Incorporating at least three examples from each category (three examples of the natural and three of the supernatural), define these concepts in terms of Hawthorne's novel, and interpret your examples in a comparative manner to show how they function in helping Hawthorne's narrator tell this story.

Essay Topic 2

Offer a compare and contrast essay about the two major male characters in this book, Arthur Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth. Be sure to include analytical description of their looks and physical aspects, their emotional states, their motivations, and their conduct.

Essay Topic 3

Hester Prynne is a single mother in Puritan New England. Explain and analyze the way Hawthorne characterizes her, using specific examples of his technique, as well as the way he dramatizes her psychology. Be sure to consider the choices Hester makes/is forced to make throughout the novel. Is Hester a strong character or a weak one? What do you think of the way she has conducted herself? Back up your arguments with specific textual examples.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,028 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample