The Scarlet Letter A Literary Analysis Wuerth, Allyson. “From the Prison Door: A Unit on The Scarlet Letter. Nov October 2008 home.southernct.edu/~smytha2/The%20Scarlet%20Letter%20full%20unit.doc

The Prison Door ► What does it look like? ► What may be the intention of the iron spikes? ► Where might doors that look like this otherwise be found? ► Is the door most likely keeping people out or keeping people locked in? ► What may this door foreshadow as we continue to read?

“The founders of a new colony, whatever Utopia…” p. 45 ► establishes the tone of the narrator ► Is it possible that the narrator marks the Puritans as hypocrites? Why or why not? ► Is it possible that the narrator would like readers to adopt his interpretation of the events he is about to relate? ► J: Why do the Puritans allot a portion of land for a cemetery and a portion for a prison? What does this tell us about their values and expectations?

“But on one side of the portal, and rooted almost…” p. 46 ► What is the significance of the red rose bush that grows at the prison door? ► Compare and contrast a wild rose bush with the door to the prison. ► Does this foreshadow a conflict between man and nature? ► Could the “fragile beauty” of the rose be meant as a symbol for human life, the fragile beauty of it? Could this rose be meant to illuminate the strength of humanity in the face of temptation, persecution, and despair?

“Finding it so directly on the threshold of our narrative…” p. 46 ► Could this novel be a doorway, an entrance? If so, to where? ► Is the reader meant to be a prisoner of the narrative? Why? ► Could the narrator be suggesting the reader enter the prison and read the novel from that place? If so, are we prisoners? Prisoners of what?

A Plucked Rose As an experiment, I present to you a plucked rose. Over the course of our discussions, we’ll see what happens to your thorny gift.

Chapters 2 and 5 ► Compare The Marketplace and Hester with her Needle ► explore the use of symbol and theme  What may the marketplace symbolize in the narrative?  Explore the following themes: ► The “Other” becomes society’s scapegoat ► Society’s marketing of sin ► Strength results form weakness or fragility ► J: So far, has the marketing of Hester’s sin been successful?

Chapters 6-8 ► Define stereotype. ► Where do they come from? What are some social stigmas today? Can they be shaken off? ► What are the effects of gossip and stereotype in the novel? ► Can we draw any similarities between what happens today and in the novel?

“Morally, as well as materially, there was a coarser fibre in those wives and maidens of old English birth and breeding, than in their fair descendants, separated from them by a series of six or seven generations; for, throughout that chain of ancestry, every successive mother has transmitted to her child a fainter bloom, a more delicate and briefer beauty, and a slighter physical frame, if not a character of less force and solidity, than her own.” (p. 48)  Discuss the following within the context of how women are most critical of Hester and her crime ► the letter “A” as a symbol for Pearl, for sin  The irony of Pearl’s name ► Pearl=purity ► Did Hester mean to be ironic?  Pearl as an externalized sin ► the transformation of the symbol “A”  How does it go from meaning “Adulterer” to “Able”?  Who is responsible for this transformation?

“Pearl,” said he, with great solemnity, “thou must take heed to instruction, that so, in due season, thou mayest wear in thy bosom the pearl of great price. Canst thou tell me, my child, who made thee?” ► Who does Mr. Wilson believe made Pearl? ► If Pearl is suspected to be the product of such a deep evil sin, could Mr. Wilson believe that Pearl is a child of the devil? ► “The Lamb” and “The Tyger” activity

Chapters 9-13 ► What does the leech symbolize? ► How are the following themes developed?  science v. nature  internalized v. externalized sin

Chapters ► alchemy and transformation? ► the motif of light and dark ► forest vs. marketplace ► the sexuality of Hester

The close of the novel ► Chillingworth character analysis ► Dimmesdale’s revelation and death ► Hester’s life and death ► Hester’s tombstone in accordance with common Puritan grave markers