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