Questions on Chapter 4 and 5

Chapter 4: The Interview
1. After standing on the scaffold, Hester returns to prison. What is her mental state like and why?
2. Hester’s jailers decide to bring a physician to her. Who is this physician?
3. When the physician gives Hester medicine, what does she think might be in it?
4. When Hester and her husband talk, what picture emerges of their marital relationship?
5. When her husband says, “Thou wilt not reveal his name. Not the less is he mine?” what does he mean?
6. What secret does Hester agree to keep for her husband and why does her husband wish her to keep it?
7. When Hester says to her husband, “Hath thou enticed me into a bond that will prove the ruin of my soul?” her husband answers: “Not thy soul … No, not thine.” What does he mean?

Chapter 5: Hester at Her Needle
1. Several reasons are given for Hester’s decision not to leave the community once she’s released from prison. Read the passage carefully where this is discussed.
2. The paragraph beginning, “It might be, too,-- doubtless it was so …” discusses what may the real reason for Hester’s staying in the community. What is this reason?
3. How does Hester make a living after her release?
4. The paragraph beginning “In this manner, Hester Prynne came to have a part …” describes her relationship with society. What is this relationship?
5. The paragraph beginning, “Her imagination was somewhat affected …” gives a sense of how she is beginning to regard the Scarlet Letter. What is this sense?