More on allegory

Discuss the allegorical significance of the scaffold, Dimmesdale's pain, the meteor shower, or any settings, objects or people in these chapters.

How has Hester changed?

Re-read ch. 13 and discuss how Hester has changed and what these changes indicate about Hawthorne's attitudes about Puritan society.

Foreshadowing

After discovering the identity of Pearl's father, look back through Ch. 9 and 10 and discuss the evidence pointing to and foreshadowing his identity. Add quotations in support of your answer and explain how the quotation indicates Hester's cohort.

Scarlet Letter

Hawthorne does not want us to like Hester's community. They are portayed as a crowd of dreary looking people, who act cruely toward Hester and Pearl. They automatically judge her without ever thinking of what could have made her act they way she did, or what she could have been affected by in her past to influence her decisions. The crowd shows no sympathy at all, and is quick to judge and ridicule. By doing so the Puritans contradict their own beliefs by being so quick to judge Hester, and also believing and preaching that God is their only Judge in life. Hester takes their redicule quitely rather than lashing back out at the crowd, or breaking down crying and begging for mercy. She remains strong and she endures their redicule and harsh judgements. I feel that by keeping her composure under such circumstances is admirable, and honorable. I admire her, and feel sorry for her at the same time due to the crowds torment and the situation she is stuck in. On a universal scale Hawthorne could be relating the Puritan society to how communities treat individuals in the sense that they all are extremely judgemental and stereotypical. People make assumptions about other people without even knowing the person or their intentions for anything they have done. People are too quick to judge and to make the assumption that they know a person and have a right to ridicule them or personally judge their actions without knowing their intent or motive.

Puritan Society

How does Hawthorne want us to react to Hester's community? How are the Puritans and their town portrayed? Give examples to support your answer. How do you feel about how Hester handles herself in the first chapters? Do you admire her, feel sorry for her, or what? Why? Is Hawthorne making any more universal statements about how communities treat individuals?

The Scarlet Letter as Allegory

Discuss the characters of Pearl and Roger Chillingworth. How are they described? How are we supposed to react to and feel about them? What does the author intend them to represent?