The Scarlet Letter: Chapter 5
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Chapter questions
- Question 1 · Recall
Where does Hester make her home after leaving the prison?
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In an abandoned cottage on the outskirts of the peninsula, where she lives with her baby daughter.Reference: Chapter 5, Hester's cottage
- Question 2 · Recall
What work does Hester do to support herself?
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Embroidery. Her fine needlework is in demand for ceremonies, official occasions and funerals.Reference: Chapter 5, Hester's needlework
- Question 3 · Recall
How do the children of the town react when they see Hester?
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They are afraid of the scarlet letter and scamper away.Reference: Chapter 5, the cottage and the children
- Question 4 · Why
Why does Hester stay in the settlement when she could leave for Europe or the forest?
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An irresistible force holds her where her sin took place. She tells herself it is penance, but she secretly feels bound to her fellow sinner.Reference: Chapter 5, why Hester stays
- Question 5 · Why
Why does the narrator say daily life with the letter is harder for Hester than the scaffold was?
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On the scaffold the law supported her through a single event, but now she faces endless, growing grief with only her own strength.Reference: Chapter 5, Hester leaves the prison
Chapter summary
Hester leaves the prison and realizes the scarlet letter will be on her breast every day. That seems harder to her than the public shaming, because the law carried her through that one scene, while she must now meet a long, growing sorrow on her own natural strength. She could go to Europe or into the forest, but she stays in the settlement.
She settles with her baby daughter in an abandoned cottage on the edge of the peninsula. Children run away from her. She supports herself with embroidery, and her work becomes fashionable for ceremonies, officials and funerals, appearing on governors' ruffs, soldiers' scarfs, ministers' bands and baby clothes, though never on a bridal veil. She dresses plainly, spends lavishly only on her daughter's clothes and gives extra money to the poor, who often scorn it.
Townspeople, clergy and matrons keep wounding her, and strangers' stares hurt as much as familiar ones. Some say the letter glows red-hot at night, and the narrator says there may be truth in that.
Come back in a few days and try these 5 again before you open the answers.
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