Review for Test Over the Scarlet Letter

Review for Test over The Scarlet Letter

TERMS THEMES theocracy alienation allusion appearance versus reality personification breaking society’s rules simile metaphor SYMBOLS hyperbole Pearl satire Scarlet Letter A realism Forest paradox Red dramatic irony Black irony of situation Rosebush verbal irony Prison Door visual irony Meteor

Foreshadowing

 2 necessities in a new colony Prison and cemetery

 Hester’s punishment

Prison; wearing the scarlet A; isolation; standing on the scaffold

 what magistrates want to accomplish by punishing Hester

Discourages others from adultery; maintain order in society; reinforcing the idea

that the law must be followed

 what the decoration on the scarlet letter indicates about Hester

maybe she doesn’t think her sin is wrong  name of person who told Hester to confess the name of the man she committed adultery with

Dimmesdale

 2 reasons Hester stays in Boston

Her sin binds her to Boston; the man she feels married to lives in Boston.

 2 meanings of the meteor

a personal sign from heaven for Dimmesdale; stands for Angel for Governor Winthrop

 3 theories of how the A was imprinted on Dimmesdale’s chest

Dimmesdale’s self-torture; Chillingworth’s drugs; guilt eating at his heart

 when Dimmesdale will stand with Hester and Pearl

at the great judgment day

 Hester’s reason for decorating the scarlet letter, according to a female spectator

to laugh in the faces of the magistrates

 reason Hester’s husband took so long to arrive in Boston

He was captured by Indians.

 reason Hester will not name the man she committed adultery with

His name is branded too deeply in her heart.

 ways that Dimmesdale punishes himself

scourging himself; fasting; standing on the scaffold

 reasons Dimmesdale will not tell the truth about the adultery

Wants to continue serving God; lacks the courage; fears public exposure

 reason Chillingworth does not want Dimmesdale to mount the scaffold

The scaffold is the only place that Dimmesdale could escape him.

 what happens to Chillingworth after Dimmesdale dies

He dies within the year because he has lost his reason for living. Symbols

Pearl Black

Scarlet Letter A Rosebush

Forest Prison Door

Red Meteor

Meaning

A symbol of shame, yet triumph over forces World of the unknown; natural world which is a that intend to punish her; adulteress=> able=>angel place of nature’s authority as opposed to man- Scarlet Letter made authority of the Puritans; place of freedom, yet can also be viewed as a place of darkness, the devil and temptation. forest This color is associated with sin, the devil and darkness. black This color is represents the glow of passion or color in a world of gray and darkness. red Living embodiment of sin; product of love and passion Pearl The authority of Puritan law; man-made, rigid conventions that contrast with Nature The ability of Nature to outlast man’s activities; prison door a symbol of hope, kindness, forgiveness rosebush A sign from God; some interpret the message from heaven to mean “angel” while others believe the sign is a supernatural warning of approaching doom meteor