SL QW 1

1
SL QW 1

• What do you think about the symbol of the rose by
  the prison door?
• Anything else strike you as we read these two
  chapters out loud?
• What seems foreboding? Any comments on
  Hawthornes writing style?

2
SL QW 2

• Is public humiliation an effective deterrent to
  undesired behavior? This is still done today
  names in newspapers, etc. Should it be done on a
  grander scale? Is it effectrive in Hesters
  time? What views did the various townsfolk have?

3
SL QW 3

• Is Hester Prynne one of the 1st American
  Heroines? Is her silent suffering truly heroic?
• Does the character of Pearl seam realistic? Is
  she too old for her age? Is she forced to grow up
  too early? Does her anger seem like a realistic
  trait? Why or why not?

4
SL QW 4

• Is The Scarlet Letter a protofeminist novel? Had
  Hester not been a woman, would she have received
  the same punishment? When Hester undertakes to
  protect other women from gender-based
  persecution, can we interpret her actions as
  pointing to a larger political statement in the
  text as a whole?
• Describe Chillingworth's "revenge." Why does he
  choose to torture Dimmesdale and Hester when he
  could simply reveal that he is Hester's husband?
  What does this imply about justice? About evil?

5
SL QW 5

• Consider this . . . Men who have unconfessed
  sins shrink from displaying themselves black and
  filthy in the view of men because,
  thenceforward, no good can be achieved by them
  no evil of the past be redeemed by better
  service.--Arthur Dimmesdale Is Dimmesdale
  right? Can individuals who are known to have
  committed a crime or moral wrong contribute good
  to society? Explain.
• This novel makes extensive use of symbols.
  Discuss the difference between the Puritans' use
  of symbols (the meteor, for example) and the way
  that the narrator makes use of symbols. Do both
  have religious implications? Do symbols
  foreshadow events or simply comment on them after
  the fact? How do they help the characters
  understand their lives, and how do they help the
  reader understand Hawthorne's book?