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Mapping a plot reminds students that all narratives follow a predictable pattern and that identifying a climax, or turning point, requires that they first identify a major conflict. Students will use this worksheet to map the plot of The Scarlet Letter. There may be several possible climaxes, and students must defend their choice with textual evidence. Pass out this worksheet before students begin reading the text.
Exploring a text’s themes provides a deeper and more complete understanding of the text’s message. Students will use this worksheet to explore some of the big, abstract ideas in The Scarlet Letter. Pass out the worksheet before students begin the novel and encourage them to add details as they read. Remind students that big ideas often intersect and overlap in complex pieces of literature. Ask: Is it appropriate that sin is in the center of this diagram? Why or why not?
Authors reveal their characters by carefully crafting their appearances, dialogue, and actions as well as what other characters think and say about them. Students will use this worksheet to examine the main characters in The Scarlet Letter. Hand out the worksheet as students begin the text but suggest that they fill in columns 3 through 5 after they read the novel. Let the answers in the last column inspire a class discussion about the appropriateness, severity, and consequences of the various kinds of punishments.
Dialogue is one of the most important tools in an author’s toolbox, and Hawthorne uses the words spoken by his characters very effectively. Students will use this worksheet to examine and analyze some of the dialogue in The Scarlet Letter. Pass out this worksheet after the class has finished reading the text. Give students time to share their answers, especially to the questions about the quotations’ importance to plot and/or theme.
The setting of The Scarlet Letter changes from chapter to chapter, from indoors to outdoors, and from daytime to night. Students will use this worksheet to explore two of the most dramatic settings in the novel. Hand out the worksheet after the class has finished reading the text. Give students the opportunity to discuss the possible opposing symbolic meanings of the two settings, such as exposure/secrecy, public/private, governed/wild, controlled/chaotic, or hypocrisy/honesty.
Although our justice system may differ significantly from the one in The Scarlet Letter, the words on this worksheet remain relevant to any justice-themed discussion today. Students will use this worksheet to distinguish among some abstract words and relate them to their own experiences. Hand out the worksheet before students read The Scarlet Letter so they can look up unknown words as they read.
Puritan life in Massachusetts Bay was harsh, severe, and somber by today’s standards. This handout gives students important background information about Puritanism and its relevance to Hawthorne’s fictional tale. Use this contextual support to spark discussion, and invite students to research and share even more details about this fascinating—and often puzzling—chapter of U.S. history.
In the world of The Scarlet Letter, religion and government are one and the same, and Hawthorne uses many words to describe and reflect the culture’s system of justice. First, use a dictionary to learn the meaning of the words as they are used in context on the pages shown in parentheses. Summarize what you learn in five to eight words. Then answer the questions to categorize the words into parts of speech. Finally, use some of the words as you answer the Big Question below. Participate in a class discussion that explores everyone’s responses.
During the sixteenth century, a group of people set out to “purify” the Church of England. Even though King Henry VIII had broken with papal authority and established a national church in the 1530s, Puritans rebelled against a church they thought remained too closely tied to the rituals and hierarchy of the Catholics. They separated themselves from their local parishes and organized into communities of “visible saints” led by charismatic leaders who were well educated and delivered lively, eloquent sermons. Their focus was on good behavior and social responsibility rather than on ornate churches, despotic priests, and the wealthy pope in Rome.
One such group, fearing for their safety, moved to Holland in 1608 and then to New England in the decades following. Unlike other migrants to the New World, many Puritans brought their entire families. Most Puritans were literate and valued a simple life of devotion and service to others. Each congregation, and each individual, was directly responsible to God. Puritan rules were strict and their punishments were often harsh, and they believed in a devil who was behind every evil deed. They may have been just as intolerant as the social order from which they fled in Europe, but they considered themselves progressive and righteous. By 1640, the time of Hawthorne’s tale, their communities in North America had grown to more than 15,000 members. By 1700, there were more than 100,000 Puritans in what is now New England.
The Puritans were among the first society to offer free public education to all children, where lessons in morality and religion took precedence. The Bible and the Greek and Latin classics were central, and poetry was always and only religious in content. The object of earthly life was salvation, and there was only one way to achieve it: through the grace of God. Puritans believed in covenants, both social and divine. The individuals were bound by a social covenant created by and agreed upon by the community. In a divine covenant, however, Puritans were chosen by God to redeem the world through their total obedience to his will.
Half a century after the time of The Scarlet Letter, Puritans became famous for the witch trials. In Salem, Massachusetts, and surrounding communities, more than 200 people—mostly women—were accused of being witches. Nineteen were found guilty and executed. Today, we look back at this period as a prime example of deadly mass hysteria as well as a warning of the dangers of both isolationism and religious extremism. The Scarlet Letter makes several references to witches and witchcraft, specifically to the Black Man who lives in the forest and is worshipped in secret at night.
Anne Hutchinson moved with her family from England to Massachusetts in 1634. They followed their Puritan minister, John Cotton, who soon joined John Wilson as the teachers of the Boston church. The following year, the charismatic and educated Hutchinson began to offer meetings in her home to discuss sermons with women in her community. Soon, she began to disagree with Wilson. Wilson believed that people were saved by God’s choosing; Hutchinson believed that good works could save a person’s soul. Over the next few years, tensions built between the two factions into a battleground of words, emotions, and, ultimately, legal battles. In 1638, Hutchinson was found guilty of 82 errors and banished from the colony. Private meetings were discouraged, and criticizing the clergy was forbidden. Hutchinson moved to what would later become Rhode Island and then outside New York City. Tragically, she and six of her children were massacred in 1643 by members of the Siwanoy tribe.
Some scholars suggest that Hutchinson was Hawthorne’s inspiration for Hester Prynne. The author describes Hutchinson in Chapters I and XIII as “sainted” and “a prophetess.” History has cast her as a pioneer woman in ministry who challenged authority and represented religious freedom. Today, a statue of Hutchinson stands in front of the State House in Boston.
[Note: Here, Hutchinson’s first name is spelled with an e because that’s the spelling that appears in historical accounts; the editors of the text spell it without the e in this edition.]
Two of Hawthorne’s paternal ancestors were famous Puritans, but their surnames were spelled without a w. William Hathorne was one of the original Puritan leaders who immigrated to Massachusetts in 1630. He became famous for his harsh criminal codes such as making adultery a crime punishable by death. William’s son, John Hathorne, was one of the sternest Salem witch judges and claimed to have been cursed by one of the accused. A century later, perhaps Nathaniel changed the spelling of his name to disassociate himself from these relatives, even though he used Salem and the Puritan setting in several of his literary works, notably The Scarlet Letter, The House of Seven Gables, and “Young Goodman Brown.” His examination of the themes of guilt and innocence, crime and punishment, and hypocrisy and transparency makes these narratives timeless, universal, and relevant to any society that punishes some forms of human sexuality as a crime and marginalizes perpetrators as a punishment.
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