The Scarlet Letter Chapters 1-4 Artemisa Ngjela. Character list for Scarlet Letter Hester Prynee – the books protagonist and the wearer of the Scarlet.

The Scarlet LetterChapters 1-4

Artemisa Ngjela

Character list for Scarlet Letter

• Hester Prynee – the books protagonist and the wearer of the Scarlet Letter

• Pearl- Hesters - daughter• Roger Chillingworth – Hester's husband in

disguise and sent Hester to America while he settled in Europe.

• Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale – A young gentleman that’s a theologian and also immigrated to America

• In a Puritan colony in Boston, Mass. 17th century.• Prisons and cemeteries were two important necessities for a new colony.• Hester Prynne is accused of adultery and has to wear the letter “A” stitched

in scarlet and gold.• Hester notices her husband in the crowd, looking deformed in the shoulders.• Hester is being punished with 3 hours standing in the scaffold and a lifetime

of wearing the letter “A”. Many people were yelling, and disrespecting her.• The town’s fathers are: Reverend Wilson, Reverend Dimmesdale and

Governor Bellingham• The men that are judging her are ignorant • Reverend Dimmesdale pushes Hester to reveal the baby’s father’s name,

but Hester refuses to do so.• Hester’s husband is called to be a doctor at the prison where she is staying.• Roger Chillingworth is her husband.• Chillingworth is compared to the Devil by Hester, and he is planning on

finding her lover.

The Scarlet Letter

By Nathaniel Hawthorne

•Hester visits Bellingham’s mansion.

•Pearl wants a rose from the rose bush.

•They reason that if she is, they will take the child for Hester’s sake, but if she is not, they will still take her for her own sake.

•They discuss how townspeople believe Pearl is demonic.

•Hester’s reflection in the armor scares her.

Chapter 7

•Mansion: Governor’s own “England” in the New World.

•Armor: Hester’s distorted reflection represents her unnatural place in society. •Dead English

ornamental plants:

England’s principals that failed to survive in the colonies.

•Rose bush: Decay shows the governors incapability of nurturing things, including his society.

Symbols:

•Pearl: Is a blessing and a curse to her mother. Symbolizes Hester’s sin, and the unknown truth.

Chapter 8•Pearl shows affection towards Dimmesdale. (natural attachment to her earthly father.)

•Chillingworth presses investigation on Hester’s lover but is refused. (relentless search to do evil)

•Mistress Hibbins invites Hester to a witchcraft meeting.(Puritan’s blindness to evil in their town)

•Hester denies Hibbin’s offer. (Pearl saves her from Satan’s temptations.)

•Bellingham, Wilson, Chillingworth, and Dimmesdale discuss Pearl. •Hester tells Gov. she can teach Pearl her important lesson of shame.•Hester begs Dimmesdale for help convincing them to let her keep Pearl.•Dimmesdale suggests that God sent Pearl as a blessing and curse, and you cannot question God’s plan. (he speaks to save his own reputation)

• Chapters 9-12• Roger Chillingworth( as he know goes by) is a physician and is sent to help

Dimmesdale in the company of his home. They do not know each other prior to this.Dimesdale seems to be wasting away and is constantly clutching his chest as if

he is having heart pains.Chillingworth and Dimmesdale become very good acquaintances.Chillingworth's personality changes from kind to devilish one.

Chillingworth mercilessly tries to find the cause of Dimmesdale's sickness.When Hester and Pearl come to visit Dimmesdale , Chillingworth remarks that

Hester wears her “A”openly. Dimmesdale takes offense to this.Chillingworth and Dimmesdale remain friends but have an awkward tension between them.

Dimmesdale's suffering; continues. One night, Dimmesdale mounts the scaffold where Hester and Pearl frequently stand for Hester's sin. No one sees him beside Hester and Pearl on their way home. He invites them to stand on the scaffold with him. Dimmesdale becomes warned by their presence. He tells Pearl that he will stand with her and her mother on “Judgment Day”

An “A” brightens the sky , and Chillingworth appears.Chillingworth makes excuses why he would be standing on the scaffold.

After this event, Dimmesdale continues to preach powerful sermons. The townspeople find the minister's glove on the scaffold and assume this is the Devil's work.

• They also interpret the “A” that appeared in the sky to stand for “Angel” for Governor Winthorp's death rather than for Hester and Pearl.

•7 Years later

•Hester is completely disconnected from society

•“A” = Able

•Dimmesdale is Ill

•Mutual Crime between Hester and Dimmesdale

•Harsher woman

•“A”= A nun’s cross

•Questions Pearl’s Behavior

•Hester connect Dimmesdale’s health with Chillingworth

•Chillingworth is collecting herbs in the river

•The “ A” can only be removed by God

•Hester will reveal Chillingworth’s identity

•Chillingworth = embodiment of evil

•Hester discovers her hatred towards her husband

•Pearl created an “A” on the beach

•Pearl connect Dimmesdale’s health with Hester’s “A”

•Secrets lead to Destruction

•Sin derives from many factors

•Good Vs. Evil

•Black Man-> Chillingworth

•The Woods are the Black Man’s residance

•Change and Transformation

•Pearl= Reason/Purity

•Sin is inevitable

•Individual Vs. Society

•Original Sin

•Public Opinion

•Puritan Values

Setting- A brook in the forest where Hester and Pearl wait for DimmesdaleCharacters: - Hester Prynne, Reverend Dimmesdale, Roger Chillingworth, Pearl

Plot:- Hester waits for Dimmesdale in the forest because she can not wait for him in the study. She “dreads” Chillingworth’s secret and doesn’t want to meddle in his affairs. She also believes that her and Dimmesdale need to breathe in the “whole world” as they talk.-The sunshine shuns Hester, which Peal attributes to her scarlet letter.-Pearl asks if Hester has ever met the “Black Man,” and if he is the reason that Hester has a scarlet letter on her bosom.-Dimmesdale puts his “hand over his heart”, and Pearl wonders if it’s because of the “Black Man.”-Hester tells Dimmesdale that Roger Chillingworth is her husband. -Dimmesdale goes through a “dark transfiguration” where he begins to scold Hester for his anguish.-Dimmesdale forgives Hester and proceeds to call Chillingworth a greater sinner than them. -Hester and Dimmesdale plot to run away to Europe and become a family with Pearl. Themes-Good vs. Evil-Dimmesdale needs to admit that he is Hester’s lover in order to escape from Chillingworth and become free.

BY John MCcOLL

Chapters 19 and 20(18&19)

• Hester and Dimmesdale both escape the public eye and also Chillingworth.

• Hester confesses to Dimmesdale that he's her husband.

• Dimmesdale blamed his suffering on Hester and began to say harsh things so Hester buried his face in to the Scarlet Letter.

• Hester insists to the minister after Dimmesdale apology to take away his old man powers.

• Pearl is very suspicious of her parents.

• Hester has to pin the letter back on and become sad an before Pearl will cross the creek.

• Pearl kisses Hester seeming like it was out of pity, also kisses the Scarlet Letter.

• Pearl doesn’t tell the minister that he is her father.

• Dimmesdale refuses to go back on the ship to Europe with them three, Pearl dislikes the kiss on her forehead and runs to the brook to wash it off.

The Scarlet Letter

Chapter 20

The Minister in a Maze

• After leaving the forest, the minister glances back and realizes it was not a dream.• Hester and Dimmesdale have decided to return to England to live a more concealed

life. • Dimmesdale find the fact that the ship leaves in four days particularly fortunate.• Election Day was in three days where Dimmesdale would perform his Election

Sermon.• On his way home, Dimmesdale has three uncharacteristic urges.

– The old deacon, the widow, and the poor young girl

• Dimmesdale questions whether or not he has made a contract with the devil.• Mistress Hibbons confronts Dimmesdale over this contract and he firmly denies it.• Chillingworth says, “as if the travel through the wilderness had been too sore for you.”• There is a strong satirical tension between Dimmesdale and Chillingworth.• Dimmesdale relieves Chillingworth of his duties.• Chillingworth hints to DImmesdale’s plan to flee

– “The people look for great things from you, apprehending that another year may come about, and find their pastor gone.”

• Dimmesdale proceeds in throwing his Election Sermon into the garbage and starting from scratch

Symbolism

• “a single day had operated on his consciousness like the lapse of years”

• The sermon that Dimmesdale throws into the garbage

Major Theme Development

•The entire change of Dimmesdale’s character

Literary Devices

•Internal monologue- Dimmesdale’s perception on what the public will say to him terminating his career

•Simile- “like one willing to recognize a secret intimacy of connection”

•Simile- “as if it were a winged steed”

•Personification- morning-peeping and blushed

•Personification- sunrise- threw a golden beam into the study

The ScarletScarlet Letter

Chapters 21 - 22

By Chelsea Ortiz

The town gathers in the marketplace

to celebrate a new governor. Pearl wishes

to have Dimmesdale openly acknowledge

her as he did in the forest.Hester is told by a sailor that

Chillingworth

would be accompanying her and

Dimmesdale on

the ship to Europe. A doctor was

needed on

board. Dimmesdale appears looking

incredibly

Healthy. So much so that Pearl does

not recognize him.

Pearl wishes to display her

affection for the minister

in front of everyone with a kiss.

Miss Hibbins predicts the

revealing of the minister's secret.Dimmesdales most powerful sermon takes

place upon the scaffold. Chillingworth claims

he will be tending to Dimmesdales boarding

of the ship and Hester must only account

for herself and Pearl.All main characters gathered together by the scaffold for the last time.

ThemesThemes and and Symbols SymbolsPearl: Guilt and pressure of Sin. Behavior lightens as the revealing of Dimmesdale's secret nears.

The Scarlet Letter Chapter 23-

Dimmsdale gave his most powerful sermon on election day.All the energy that Dimmsdale had portrayed was now gone as he walked toward the Scaffold where Hester stood.

As Dimmsdale collapsed he called for Pearl and Hester.The 4 main characters; Dimmsdale,Hester,Pearl, and Chillingworth were now all together at the Scaffold one last time.

Being held up by Pearl and Hester, Dimmsdale admits to his sin.Dimmsdale rips of his shirt to show he also had some type of mark but the author does not describe it.

Dimmsdale asks Pearl if she will kiss him now and she does.Dimmsdale then dies as he is talking to Hester.

Chapter 24-Describes the accounts of what people thought they saw.

-Some saw a Scarlet Letter on the chest of Dimmsdale.-Some thought it got there from Chillingworth’s use of magic.

-Some even thought that nothing was on his chest and that he had never committed a sin, but took the blame for it to teach

the people a lesson: “We are all sinners alike.”Chillingworth then dies within a year since he now has nothing to focus his revenge on;

leaving everything to Pearl.Hester and Pearl then disappear too, but after some time Hester would return to her cottage

alone where she would die.Hester was then buried in King’s Chapel next to Dimmsdale but far enough that

“the dust of the two sleepers had no right to mingle, even in death”“On a field, sable, the letter A, gules.”-

The last words of the book that are used by the author to sum it up. -Meaning: A red letter appearing against a black background.