The Scarlet Letter

Readings and Materials

Key Questions

Questions about the text that will help guide the students understanding

Add a note

Lesson Notes

Download Notes

There was an error generating your document. Please refresh the page and try again.

Generating your document. This may take a few seconds.

Download Page with Annotations

Share with my team(s)

Post as a note "From the Fishtank Team"

Are You Sure?

Are you sure you want to delete this note? This action cannot be undone.

Cancel Delete

• According to the narrator on pp. 40–41, what did Chillingworth discover when he arrived in Boston and how was this different from what he had anticipated? What decision did he make in that moment according to the narrator?

• What does the phrase, “a new purpose; dark it is true,” suggest about Chillingworth?

• According to the narrator, why were the people of Boston so willing to accept this total stranger and believe him that he was a doctor? Note two or three distinct reasons given on pp. 41–42.

• What is the narrator’s tone toward Chillingworth? How is it further developed in the phrase, “exemplary as regarded at least the outward forms of religious life” on p. 42?

• What do we learn about Reverend Dimmesdale on p. 42? About his relationship with the townspeople?

• Track the author’s use of diction related to wilderness and mystery on p. 42. What does this diction suggest?

• How are Dimmesdale’s explanations for his illness and his parishioners’ explanations for his illness different?

• According to pp. 42–43, how do some of Dimmesdale’s most loyal parishioners interpret the arrival of Chillingworth? Why?

• How do Chillingworth’s actions help to support the parishioners’ assumptions about divine intervention?

• Track the diction the author uses to describe the relationship between the two men on pp. 43–47.

• What does the sentence on p. 44, “In Arthur Dimmesdale…have its groundwork there,” suggest about Dimmesdale’s illness?

• What is the significance of the narrator’s comparison of Chillingworth to a “treasure-seeker” on p. 44?

• Why does the author tell us that “a man burdened with secrets should especially avoid the intimacy of his physician” on p. 44? What is the implication here?

• What seems to be Chillingworth’s motivation for suggesting that the two live together? How is it different from what the townspeople might think his motivation is? How do you know?

• Based on how they decorate their rooms, what can we infer about what each man represents?

• How do the townspeople’s opinions of Chillingworth start to change? Why? What do they begin to suspect?

• How does Chillingworth’s appearance start to change at the same time?

• What role does religion and faith seem to play in the townspeople’s interpretations of what is happening here? Does Hawthorne seem to agree with their interpretations?

• Why is it significant that Hawthorne refers to Chillingworth as “the leech”?

• Evaluate this statement: Both men have internal afflictions that are outwardly manifested.