- As a Romantic critique of American hypocrisy: the first settlers were quick to judge anyone who was a threat to their sense of community, faith, and power
- Sin: any selfish act that impinges upon the personhood or property of another
- Penitence: true contrition for the act of sinning and the accompanying actions that keep the sinner from repeating the infraction
- Penance: a series of behaviors or tasks designed to repay the person sinned against
- As feminism: the belief that equality is not based on gender
- As a fairy tale: written by the literate, for the literate
- Restoration: the "hero" loses his or her place which is returned after he/she passes through the forest and passes a series of trials
- The Rise: the "hero" starts with nothing and gains everything after he/she passes through the forest and passes a series of trials
- The Forest is a place everyone enters where the rules are completely different; not everyone leaves and not everyone leaves sane
- Coded language is used to give the story multiple levels of meaning
- Hester Prynne: the hero of the piece who is forced to take full responsibility for her "sins" and suffers a mental breakdown before rising to meet every trial and facing her shadow
- Arthur Dimmesdale: the stand-in for every person corrupted by the safety of their life at the expense of others; he is the damsel in distress who fails to understand what meeting his shadow is about (only when he finally faces himself is he freed)
- Roger Chillingworth: he entered the forest, faced his shadow, and returned to society slightly cracked; his issues were exacerbated by greed and revenge; however, even he had a moment of redemption
- Pearl Prynne: Hester's illegitimate daughter; a shadow for each of the adults, she is seen by her society as flawed simply because of the circumstances of her birth
- Ann Hutchinson: a female religious leader who was banished by the "good people" of Boston
- The Rose Bush: a piece of nature/the forest that has creeped into the town
- Native Americans: represent the unknown which the Puritans assume means evil, the witches hope mean freedom, and the reader is to come to understand that they represent our otherselves
- The Women: are more vicious about Hester's sin because she won't reveal her lover which means he could be anyone's husband or hoped for husband
- The Clergy: must maintain order because order is power and power keeps them safe...
- The Graveyard: home of the bodies, not the souls; the place between civilization and the forest (chaos); the place between life and death
Questions for chapters 1-4
- Who is in the crowd? How do they behave? Support and explain.
- How is the letter "A" viewed? Support and explain.
- What did everyone think happened to Hester's husband? Support and explain.
- Why did Hester become hysterical on the scaffold? Support and explain.
- How much blame did Chillingworth take away from Hester? Support and explain.
- What secret is Hester hiding? Support and explain.
- Why does Hester keep each man's secret? Support and explain.
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