| Read this excerpt from chapter 1 of The Scarlet Letter.Certain it is, that, some fifteen or twenty years after the settlement of the town, the wooden jail was already marked with weather-stains and other indications of age, which gave a yet darker aspect to its beetle-browed and gloomy front. The rust on the ponderous iron-work of its oaken door looked more antique than any thing else in the new world.The author most likely include the words “darker aspect,” “beetle-browed,” “gloomy,” and “ponderous” in order to | Impart a Meloncholy mood |
| Read this excerpt from chapter 2 of The Scarlet Letter using comprehension strategies.”Goodwives,” said a hard-featured dame of fifty, “I’ll tell ye a piece of my mind. It would be greatly for the public behoof, if we women, being of mature age and church-members in good repute, should have the handling of such malefactresses as this Hester Prynne. What think ye, gossips? If the hussy stood up for judgment before us five, that are now here in a knot together, would she come off with such a sentence as the worshipful magistrates have awarded?”What is the meaning of this excerpt? | The speaker believes that she and her peers ought to be in charge of assigning sentences in cases like Hester’s. |
| Read this excerpt from chapter 2 of The Scarlet Letter.Lastly, in lieu of these shifting scenes, came back the rude market-place of the Puritan settlement, with all the townspeople assembled and levelling their stern regards at Hester Prynne,—yes, at herself,—who stood on the scaffold of the pillory, an infant on her arm, and the letter A, in scarlet, fantastically embroidered with gold thread, upon her bosom!What is the effect of the underlined words in this excerpt? | They impart a mood of distress and shame. |
| Which event described in chapter 1 of The Scarlet Letter involves the narrator? | The narrator offers the reader a rose. |
| Read this excerpt from chapter 2 of The Scarlet Letter.”This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die. Is there not law for it? Truly there is, both in the Scripture and the statute-book. Then let the magistrates, who have made it of no effect, thank themselves if their own wives and daughters go astray!”What part of the plot does this excerpt reveal? | It is part of the rising action that reveals public sentiment toward Hester. |
| Which event described in chapter 1 of The Scarlet Letter takes place as the story begins? | A crowd gathers at the jail. |
| Which event described in chapter 2 of The Scarlet Letter occurs when Hester arrives at the marketplace? | Hester climbs the stairs and stands on the scaffolding. |
| Which event described in chapter 2 of The Scarlet Letter occurs after Hester leaves the jail? | Young children run heedlessly before Hester to the scaffold. |
| Read this excerpt from chapter 1 of The Scarlet Letter.Before this ugly edifice, and between it and the wheel-track of the street, was a grass-plot, much overgrown with burdock, pig-weed, apple-peru, and such unsightly vegetation, which evidently found something congenial in the soil that had so early borne the black flower of civilized society, a prison.Which best describes the effect of the words “ugly,” “overgrown,” “pig-weed,” and “unsightly vegetation”? | They establish a rough, untamed setting. |
| In accordance with this rule, it may safely be assumed that the forefathers of Boston had built the first prison-house, somewhere in the vicinity of Cornhill, almost as seasonably as they marked out the first burial-ground, on Isaac Johnson’s lot, and round about his grave, which subsequently became the nucleus of all the congregated sepulchres in the old church-yard of King’s Chapel.What is the meaning of this excerpt? | The prison and cemetery were built early, with the cemetery expanding in size from its original plot. |
| Which event described in chapter 2 of The Scarlet Letter occurs after Hester appears in front of the crowd? | Onlookers react to Hester’s embroidered letter. |
| Read this excerpt from chapter 2 of The Scarlet Letter.The door of the jail being flung open from within, there appeared, in the first place, like a black shadow emerging into sunshine, the grim and grisly presence of the town-beadle, with a sword by his side and his staff of office in his hand.Which best describes the purpose of the words “black shadow,” “grim,” “grisly,” and “sword”? | To impart a solemn Mood |
| Read this excerpt from chapter 2 of The Scarlet Letter.Meagre, indeed, and cold, was the sympathy that a transgressor might look for, from such bystanders at the scaffold. On the other hand, a penalty which, in our days, would infer a degree of mocking infamy and ridicule, might then be invested with almost as stern a dignity as the punishment of death itself.Which best describes the purpose of the words “meagre,” “scaffold,” “stern,” and “punishment of death”? | They impart a judgmental, reproachful mood. |
| Read this excerpt from chapter 1 of The Scarlet Letter.Finding it so directly on the threshold of our narrative, which is now about to issue from that inauspicious portal, we could hardly do otherwise than pluck one of its flowers and present it to the reader.What is the meaning of the word “inauspicious”? | not conducive to success; unpromising. |
| Which event described in chapter 2 of The Scarlet Letter occurs after the women of the crowd are introduced? | The women discuss Hester’s sentence. |
| The romantic character of the place delighted me; I was very much amused by the air of adventure and intrigue that prevailed in this region of masks and gondolas; and I was exceedingly smitten by a pair of languishing black eyes, that played upon my heart from under an Italian mantle. So I persuaded myself that I was lingering at Venice to study men and manners. At least I persuaded my friends so, and that answered all my purpose.What statement best describes the narrator in this excerpt? | The narrator is not entirely truthful about his reasons for staying in Venice. |
| “This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die. Is there not law for it? Truly there is, both in the Scripture and the statute-book. Then let the magistrates, who have made it of no effect, thank themselves if their own wives and daughters go astray!”What part of the plot does this excerpt reveal? | It is part of the rising action that reveals public sentiment toward Hester |
The Scarlet Letter
April 17, 2020