Kristal Martinez The Scarlet Letter American Literature 11 th Grade

1. Kristal Martinez The Scarlet Letter American Literature 11th Grade To Slide 2

2. Main Menu • To advance click any picture or text • To advance on other slides look for the little green book. Main Characters Plot Symbols Themes About the Author Quiz Motifs

3. Plot • Story begins in 17th century Boston the puritan settlement of Salem, Massachusetts. • Hester Prynne has committed the sin of adultery and has a child to show for it. She will not give the mans name. • She must suffer through the judgments of the town and wear an “A” for adulteress on her chest. • Her husband who plots against the man also deteriorates from the evil that he harbors within himself. Main Menu

4. Main Characters • Hester Prynne: • Story’s protagonist • As a young woman she married an elderly scholar • She had an affair with a man after two years of waiting and gave birth to a baby girl. • Pearl: • Hester’s and Doomsdale’s illegitimate child. • She has a moody and mischievous spirit, but is truly intuitive. Characters Cont.

5. Main Characters Cont. • Roger Chillingworth: • Hester Prynne’s husband, the elderly scholar, in disguise. • Lusts for revenge. • Reverend Arthur Doomsdale: • Pearl’s father and Hester’s lover. • He feels extreme guilt but does not want his sins seen. Main Menu

6. Symbols • The Scarlet Letter: • Symbol of shame initially; eventually becomes symbol of strength and ability for Hester. • The Meteor: • Makes the shape of an “A” in the sky. • To Dimmesdale it is a sign that he should also wear a mark. Symbols Cont.

7. Symbols Cont. • Pearl: • She is the living version of her mother’s scarlet letter. • She is both a constant reminder of her mother’s transgression and a blessing to her mother showing the passion that was behind the sin. • After Dimmesdale confesses that he is Pearl’s father she can become human. Main Menu

8. Themes • Sin, Knowledge, and the Human Condition: • The story of Dimmesdale and Hester recalls that of Adam and Eve. In both experiences sin results in expulsion, suffering, and true knowledge of what it is to be human. • Identity and Society: • After Hester is shamed she continues to live in the colony by choice. She would rather refigure the symbol into something of her own. Main Menu

9. Motifs • Evocative Names: • The names in this novel can be interpreted allegorically. Chillingworth brings chill, Prynne rhymes with sin, and dimness means weakness something Dimmesdale embodies. Pearl is also allegorical. • Night vs. Day: • The plots events are organized into day and night. At night sinful events occur, and in the daylight these sins are revealed. Main Menu

10. About Nathaniel Hawthorne • Born in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1804. He descended from the earliest settlers of the Massachusetts bay colony. • He had connections to John Hathorne, a judge in the Salem witch trials. • Hawthorne was part of the transcendentalist movement. Nathaniel Hawthorne cont.

11. Nathaniel Hawthorne Cont. • He published The Scarlet Letter in 1850. • He died in 1864. • Most of Hawthorne’s work uses America's Puritan past as it subject due to his deep connections to early Salem. Main Menu

12. Quiz Yourself! • The symbols of this text each correspond with the: A) The sin of Hester and Reverend Dimmesdale, and their penance for that sin. B) The misbehavior of Pearl to pay back her mother. C) The sin of Hester and Dr. Chillingworth, and their retribution for that sin.

13. Correct! Great Choice! • Each symbol of the text, Pearl, the scarlet letter, and the meteor, correspond with the sin of Hester and Reverend Dimmesdale, and their penance for that sin . Winner’s Circle

14. Sorry, Incorrect • Good try, but Pearl is both a constant reminder of her mother’s transgression and a blessing to her mother showing the passion that was behind the sin. She only misbehave because she feels unfulfilled due Reverend Dimmesdale’s hiding from the town that he is her father. Return to question

15. Sorry, Incorrect • Good try, but Dr. Chillingworth and Hester’s sins are different. Hester was considered an adulteress and Chillingworth’s sin was his inability to forgive Hester and Dimmesdale. Return to Question

16. Winner’s Circle!Great job, your Literary work out is complete! • Click the picture or text to return to title slide. Return to Title Slide