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An Analysis of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

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An Analysis of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Cornell Notes
Topic/Objective: The Scarlet Letter
Name:

Class/Period:

Date: February 6, 2014
Essential Question: How does rhetoric influence the reader’s understanding of the novel?

Questions:
Notes:

The chapter is called this because Hester and Pearl walk in the forest where they hear about the Black Man.

“The sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom. Now, see! There it is, playing, a good way off.” (Hawthorne, 173).
“And, mother, the old dame said that this scarlet letter was the Black Man’s mark on thee, and that it glows like a red flame when thou meetest him at midnight, here in the dark wood.” (Hawthorne, 174).
Hester and Pearl take a walk in the woods where Pearl chases the sun. Pearl tells Hester about the Black Man in the forest which was an old tale told. The Black Man would get people who walked by to sign things and he is imposed to be who gave Hester the A.

The Pastor is referring to Dimmesdale in this chapter. A parishioner is an outsider which was Hester all thoughtout this book.

“So strangely did they meet, in the dim wood, that is was like the first encounter, in the world beyond the grave, of two spirits who had been intimately connected in their former life, but now stood coldly shuddering, in mutual dread…” (Hawthorne, 180).
“All the world had frowned on her- for seven long years had it frowned upon this lonely woman-and still she bore it all, nor ever once turned away her firm, sad eyes…but the frown of this pale, weak, sinful, and sorrow-stricken man was what Hester could not bear, and live!” (Hawthorne, 184).
Dimmesdale meets Hester in the woods. They were both spiritual ghosts in the beginning. They both talk it out and he learns to forgive her.
XVI – A Forest Walk

Metaphor, Personification

Similie

Summary

XVII – The Pastor and His Parishioner

Similie

Repitition

Summary

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