The Scarlet Letter. by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Student Handouts & Projection Masters

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1 by Nathaniel Hawthorne Student Handouts & Projection Masters

2 Handout Copyright The Johns Hopkins University. All Rights Reserved. 71 Hester s Physical Appearance What Others Think or Say about Hester Character Web for Hester Prynne Hester Prynne Hester s Actions Hester s Thoughts Hester s Words

3 Handout 72 Copyright The Johns Hopkins University. All Rights Reserved. His Physical Appearance What Others Think or Say about Him Character Web for Reverend Dimmesdale Dimmesdale His Actions His Thoughts His Words

4 Handout Common Psychiatric Disorders Adjustment Disorders A person has a combination of depression and anxiety that cause he or she to rebel against the rules and regulations of family, work, or society. Anxiety Disorders A person experiences such a state of anxiety in certain (or all) situations that he or she is too stressed to function in many aspects of life. Disassociate Disorders A person has a significant impairment in his or her memory, sense of identity, or sense of consciousness. Eating Disorders A person habitually either over- or under-eats. Impulse-Control Disorders A person cannot control his or her strong desire to carry out a particular action even though the action will bring negative consequences. Mood Disorders A person experiences inappropriate, exaggerated, limited, or quicklychanging emotions. Personality Disorders A person experiences a long-term, negative change in patterns of thought and behavior that affect many areas, such as his or her emotions, reasoning abilities, self-control, and interpersonal relationships. Psychotic Disorders A person is not always in touch with reality. The person may experience hallucinations, hearing, seeing, smelling, feeling, and or tasting things that aren t really there. Or, the person may experience delusions false beliefs about self, others, or circumstances that harms his or her ability to function well. Sleep Disorders A person sleeps at unusual times, or does not get enough quality sleep and never feels well-rested. Or, a person may exhibit strange behavior while sleeping, such as sleep-walking. Somatoform Disorders The person has a physical problem, but doctors cannot find a medical cause for it. Substance Disorders This disorder is caused by drug or alcohol abuse and negatively affects a person in many ways including his or her interpersonal relationships and ability to work. Copyright The Johns Hopkins University. All Rights Reserved. 77

5 Symbolism The Scarlet Letter Symbolism Blackline Master #1 A symbol is anything that stands for or represents something beyond itself. An author may use a real thing an object, person, event, etc. to represent an idea or to communicate a message. What do these symbols represent? Can you identify other familiar symbols? Copyright The Johns Hopkins University. All Rights Reserved. 69

6 Symbolism Blackline Master #2 Looking Beyond the Literal Meaning Sometimes as you read, you get the sense that something written in a story could have a meaning beyond its literal meaning. When you sense that this is so, look for clues in the story that support that possibility. For example, look at how Nathaniel Hawthorne describes a prison door in chapter 1 of The Scarlet Letter: some fifteen or twenty years after the settlement of the town, the wooden jail was already marked with weatherstains 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. Like all that pertains to crime, it seemed never to have known a youthful era. Before this ugly edifice, and between it and the wheel-track of the street, was a grass-plot, much overgrown with such unsightly vegetation, which evidently found something congenial in the soil that had so early borne the black flower of civilized society, a prison. 70 Copyright The Johns Hopkins University. All Rights Reserved.

7 Allusion Blackline Master #1 Allusion An allusion is a brief reference to a work of art, such as a book, poem, or song, or to a famous place, person, or event. It allows a writer to say much with only a few words. Chapter 1 of The Scarlet Letter contains an allusion. The narrator says that whatever Utopia the colony founders hoped to create was soon marred by their need to establish a cemetery and a prison. The term Utopia was first used by the Greek philosopher Plato and is defined as an ideal place or perfect world. Why does the narrator suggest that the Puritans were hoping to build a Utopia? Why was this impossible? Copyright The Johns Hopkins University. All Rights Reserved. 75

8 Allusion Blackline Master #2 More Allusion Examples Can you identify the allusions in the following examples? Chapter 5 [the world] could not entirely cast [Hester] off, although it had set a mark upon her, more intolerable to a woman s heart than that which branded the brow of Cain. Chapter 6 But [Hester] named the infant Pearl, as being of great price, - purchased with all she had, -her mother s only treasure! [Pearl] never created a friend, but always seemed to be sowing broadcast the dragon s teeth, whence sprung a harvest of armed enemies, against which she would rush to battle. 76 Copyright The Johns Hopkins University. All Rights Reserved.