The Scarlet Letter
1
Chapter by Chapter Study Guide
Chapter 1
Chapter 4
1. According to the narrator, which two things
do founders of new settlements have to build
almost immediately?
2. Describe the appearance of the prison.
3. Which plant outside the prison had survived
for a very long time after the time of this story?
1. What occupation does Roger Chillingworth
practice now?
2. What is Chillingworth's attitude toward the
medicinal skills he encountered among Native
Americans?
3. Why does Hester hesitate when
Chillingworth tries to give her baby medicine?
4. What sin against Hester does Chillingworth
say he has committed?
5. Although Chillingworth shows no intention
to harm Hester or her baby, what does he plan
to do?
Chapter 2
1. What is the harshest punishment for Hester
Prynne discussed by the women waiting in
front of the prison?
2. Who sewed Hester's scarlet letter A?
3. What punishment does Hester have to
endure in front of the whole town, besides
wearing the letter?
4. Where was Hester's childhood home?
5. Which part of the scholarly man that Hester
remembers was slightly deformed?
Chapter 3
1. How is the stranger to the community (the
white man) dressed?
2. What does the stranger do when Hester
meets his gaze and recognizes him?
3. According to the stranger, why is he with a
Native American?
4. Who makes the eloquent speech to Hester,
asking her to reveal the name of her child's
father?
5. What does Reverend Wilson, the older
clergyman, do when Hester refuses to name
the father?
Chapter 5
1. According to the narrator, why does Hester
remain in New England once she has been
branded as a sinner?
2. Where is Hester's house located in relation to
the rest of the community?
3. How does Hester make a living?
4. What effect does wearing the scarlet letter
have on how Hester views other members of
the community?
5. What does Hester do with the money she
earns that she doesn't need for herself and her
daughter?
Chapter 6
1. Why does Hester believe that Pearl has
turned out to be such a passionate, hottempered moral being?
2. How does Pearl interact with the other
Puritan children?
3. What was the first thing Pearl seemed to
notice when she was a baby?
4. Pearl makes a game of throwing what at
Hester's letter A?
5. When Hester tells Pearl that she was sent by
her Heavenly Father, what does Pearl reply?
The Scarlet Letter
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Chapter by Chapter Study Guide
Chapter 7
Chapter 10
1. What are Hester's two reasons for visiting the
Governor?
2. Hester makes Pearl a dress that causes her to
resemble what?
3. Who is guarding the door to the Governor's
house?
4. What impressive decoration did the
Governor have made for himself in England
before he came to America?
5. How does the Governor's garden differ from
gardens in England?
1. Where did Roger Chillingworth find the plant
(the "dark flabby leaf") that Dimmesdale sees
him about to prepare into medicine?
2. Who appears outside of the window at which
Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth are
talking?
3. According to Pearl, whom has the Black Man
"got hold of" already?
4. During their heated conversation, what kind
of wound do Roger Chillingworth and
Dimmesdale determine Dimmesdale has?
5. What does Roger Chillingworth do when he
finds Dimmesdale asleep?
Chapter 8
1. What is Hester's main argument for why she
should be allowed to keep Pearl, despite her sin
and shame?
2. Who does Hester ask to speak up in support
of her being able to keep Pearl?
3. What gesture does Pearl make toward
Dimmesdale that surprises Hester?
4. Why does Mr. Wilson suggest that it might
be better for Pearl if her father is not revealed?
5. According to Hester herself, under what
condition would she have gone into the woods
with Mistress Higgins to worship the Black
Man?
Chapter 11
1. Why doesn't Dimmesdale believe his sense
that Roger Chillingworth is evil?
2. What important quality does Reverend
Dimmesdale have that the other clergymen in
the colony lack?
3. How do Dimmesdale's congregation
members react when he tells them that he is
vile and a sinner?
4. What does Dimmesdale keep in his secret
closet?
5. How does Dimmesdale dress when he leaves
the house in the middle of the night?
Chapter 9
Chapter 12
1. For what reason does the narrator suppose
that few doctors have come to the colony?
2. Why did the townspeople find the doctor
Roger Chillingworth's sudden appearance in
the town so lucky?
3. What changes about Dimmesdale's living
situation in this chapter?
4. What fact about Roger Chillingworth's
medical training makes the townspeople doubt
his good influence on Dimmesdale?
5. At the end of this chapter, what do the
townspeople think is causing Dimmesdale's
illness?
1. Where does Dimmesdale go when he leaves
his house?
2. Which two people appear to wake up when
Dimmesdale cries out?
3. What does Pearl ask Dimmesdale to do?
4. When Dimmesdale asks Pearl to tell him who
Roger Chillingworth really is, what does she
say?
5. According to the sexton, why did the letter A
appear in the night sky?
The Scarlet Letter
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Chapter by Chapter Study Guide
Chapter 13
Chapter 16
1. How old is Pearl at this point in the story?
2. How does Hester react when people she has
helped try to greet her in public?
3. What do the townspeople say about Hester
when they talk about her to strangers?
4. What has changed about Hester's hair since
the beginning of the book?
5. What does Hester resolve to do, in relation
to Roger Chillingworth?
1. According to Pearl, what will happen if Hester
stands in the sunlight?
2. From whom did Pearl hear the story about
the Black Man and his book?
3. What is Hester's explanation to Pearl, this
time, for the scarlet letter on her chest?
4. What sound in the forest seems to be telling
Hester about her sorrows?
5. Who do Hester and Pearl see walking in the
forest?
Chapter 14
Chapter 17
1. Where are Pearl and Hester when they meet
Roger Chillingworth?
2. According to Roger Chillingworth, what
matter concerning Hester was being debated
by town magistrates?
3. What has changed about Roger
Chillingworth's appearance in the past seven
years?
4. According to Roger Chillingworth, how did
he avenge himself on Hester?
5. What does Roger Chillingworth tell Hester to
do, now that she has revealed her intention to
tell Dimmesdale his true identity as her
husband?
1. The meeting between Hester and
Dimmesdale feels so strange to both of them
that the narrator compares them to what?
2. How does Dimmesdale initially react to
Hester's telling him that Chillingworth is her
husband?
3. According to Dimmesdale, who is a worse
sinner than either him or Hester?
4. What is Hester's advice for Dimmesdale,
when he asks her to tell him what to do?
5. What suggestion does Hester make when
Dimmesdale says he is too tired to do anything
else alone?
Chapter 15
Chapter 18
1. After Roger Chillingworth has gone, and
before she reunites with Pearl, what does
Hester say out loud about Chillingworth?
2. According to Hester, what did Roger
Chillingworth do to her that was worse than
her own act of adultery?
3. What does Pearl make as a final addition to
the mermaid's outfit of seaweed she has
created for herself?
4. What does Hester lie to Pearl about?
5. How does Hester react when, one morning,
Pearl asks her why Dimmesdale keeps his hand
over his heart?
1. According to the narrator, why is it easier for
Hester to imagine living a different kind of life
than it is for Dimmesdale?
2. How does Dimmesdale's attitude toward life
change when he decides to go away with
Hester?
3. What does Hester do with her scarlet letter?
4. Why is Dimmesdale reluctant to meet Pearl,
and get to know her better?
5. How do the animals of the forest treat Pearl?
The Scarlet Letter
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Chapter by Chapter Study Guide
Chapter 19
Chapter 22
1. What is Pearl wearing in her hair?
2. What natural feature of the forest separates
Pearl from Hester and Dimmesdale?
3. What does Pearl insist Hester do, before
Pearl will come to her?
4. What does Hester plan to do with the scarlet
letter, eventually?
5. What does Pearl run to wash off in the
brook?
1. In the eyes of the townspeople, how is
Dimmesdale different today than he has been
in the past?
2. According to Pearl, why didn't she run up and
ask the minister to kiss her?
3. Where does Hester stand to listen to the
minister's sermon?
4. What message does the ship's commander
ask Pearl to bring to her mother?
5. Why does a group of strangers gather
around Hester?
Chapter 20
1. How do Hester and Dimmesdale plan to leave
the town?
2. Why is Dimmesdale glad that he is not
leaving for a few days?
3. When Dimmesdale sees a group of Puritan
children playing by the road, what does he have
an urge to do?
4. How does Dimmesdale respond to Roger
Chillingworth's offer of medicine?
5. What does Dimmesdale do with the copy of
the sermon he had previously written?
Chapter 21
1. Describe both Hester's and Pearl's clothing at
the festivities.
2. According to the narrator, how would the
Puritans behave on a regular basis if they were
true to their hereditary tendencies?
3. Who are the wildest people attending the
Election festivities?
4. How does the clothing of the ship's
commander compare to the clothing of the
Puritans?
5. What news does the ship's commander bring
Hester?
Chapter 23
1. Now that Dimmesdale is outside of the
church, how has his appearance changed?
2. Where does Dimmesdale stop in the middle
of the procession?
3. Why is Roger Chillingworth disappointed that
Dimmesdale has chosen to reveal his secret?
4. How does Dimmesdale reply when Hester
asks whether they will meet again after death?
5. At which moment does the narrator describe
Pearl becoming a more developed person,
eventually to be a real woman?
Chapter 24
1. What was imprinted on Dimmesdale's chest?
2. What happens to Roger Chillingworth?
3. What does Pearl inherit from Roger
Chillingworth?
4. Why did people suppose that Pearl was
happily married and living in Europe?
5. According to the narrator, why did Hester
probably return to New England?