Scarlet Letter Notes

The Scarlet Letter: from A to z.
Journal # 1

Reading:

The Marketplace, The Recognition, The Interview

Journal Notes [see end of document for format criteria]: 1. Select distinguishing characteristics and remarks for Hester Prynne, Rev. Dimmesdale and the stranger/physician. 2. Track how the crowd treats Hester/her punishment 3. Note Hawthorne’s references to Puritan living and how they indicate bias towards their actions and beliefs. 4. Vocabulary (you will have a quiz at the end of Ch. 12 and 24.)

Journal Entry [see end of document for format criteria]: Discuss the contrasts in settings (market place vs. prison) and how they affect character, plot development or theme through the first three chapters.

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The Scarlet Letter: from A to z.
Journal # 2

Reading :

Hester at her Needle, Pearl

Journal Notes: 1. Note suggestions that the public has not relented in their treatment of Hester. 2. Note suggestions that Hester has not relented in punishing herself. 3. Suggest parallels between Pearl’s temperament/appearance and her origin. 4. Vocabulary (you will have a quiz at the end of Ch. 12 and 24.)

Journal Entries: 1. Consider how/why Pearl’s name is an appropriate one for Hawthorne to give to Hester’s child. OR

2. Critics have called Pearl, “half-child, half-literary symbol.” How does Chapter VI serve to start this argument?
The Scarlet Letter: from A to z.
Journal # 3

Reading :

The Governor’s Hall, The Elf-Child and the Minister

Journal Notes: 1. Note how Hawthorne has “romanticized” the Governor’s Hall (what seems out of the ordinary, given your knowledge of Puritan “tastes”?) 2. Establish links between Chapter 8 and Chapter 1. 3. Elf-Child? Offer suggestions why/how Pearl fits this moniker. 4. Vocabulary (you will have a quiz at the end of Ch. 12 and 24.)

Journal Entries: