The Scarlet Letter - Chapters 1-2

What does Hawthorne mean when he calls the colony a "utopia"?

What they were hoping for

What structures are required? Why?

A prison and cemetery. Because the Puritans recognize it is human nature to have crime and death.

Why does he point out the rose bush?

It is the hope to offset the bad in a dark place.

Who is Ann Hutchinson?

Immigrated to Boston in 1634. Influential religious leader with unorthodox beliefs. Arrested because she was seen as a threat to the civil then banished and killed by Indians

What two necessities, according to the author, must the founders of a new colony provide immediately to the community?

Land for a prison and cemetery

What is the occupation of the narrator?

Custom Officers

What is situated immediately outside the door of the prison in which Hester is kept?

A rose bush

What does the narrator offer the reader at the end of chapter 1?

A flower to serve as a symbol of a sweet moral lesson

Hawthorne introduces contrasting symbols early in Chapter 1 that will be used throughout the novel. These key symbols are...

Prison door-community concerned with the penalty/penance

rose bush-hope/beauty

scaffold-sin and shame

ugly weeds-decay/repulsiveness (adds to the mood)

How long does Hester have to stand on the scaffold in public shame?

3 hours, until 1

What is Hester skilled at?

Sewing

What did the letter A stand for?

Adultery

How long must she wear the scarlet letter?

Rest of her life

Hester sees a disfigured man in the crowd at the end of Chapter 2. Who can we assume the man is?

Husband or baby daddy

Know the setting: time, place, etc

June of the mid 1600s in Boston

How does the narrator describe the majority of the first generation of female residents of Boston?  How do they feel  about Hester?  How do they react to her “A”?

women are smaller and more delicate in frame and character

The women want her branded on her forehead because she went against there religious beliefs

The A is really pretty and the women were angry because she seems proud of her sin


1. EXPLAIN:  “*one token of her shame would but poorly serve to hide another*”

What is evidence of Hester’s adultery?

Her three month old baby

EXPLAIN:  “*one token of her shame would but poorly serve to hide another*”

Her baby cant cover the A because both represent the sin

What must she do during this short time out of prison?  For how long?

She has to stand at the Scaffold for 3 hours as public shame

Describe Hester; how does the town feel about her?  What is her background (past)?

She was born in England and grew up there. She met a scholar who was slightly deformed, having a left shoulder higher than his right. Her husband, later revealed to be Roger Chillingworth, first took her to Amsterdam and then sent her to America to await his arrival.

The town is ashamed of her and does not like her.