II. The Marketplace Quiz — The Scarlet Letter

Where does the crowd gather at the beginning of Chapter 2?

• Outside the governor's mansion
• In the town square near the church
• Before the jail in Prison Lane
• At the harbor docks

What does Hester do when the beadle tries to lead her from the prison?

• She follows him meekly without resistance
• She repels him and steps out as if by her own free will
• She collapses and has to be carried
• She begs him for mercy

How is the scarlet letter on Hester's gown described?

• A plain red letter A stitched crudely onto gray cloth
• A letter A branded directly into her skin
• An A in fine red cloth with elaborate embroidery and gold thread
• A wooden letter A hung on a chain around her neck

Which character in the crowd shows compassion toward Hester?

• The hard-featured dame of fifty
• The most iron-visaged of the old dames
• A young wife holding a child by the hand
• The town-beadle

What does Hawthorne compare Hester and her infant to on the scaffold?

• A queen and her heir
• The Madonna and Child
• Eve and Cain in the Garden
• A condemned witch and her familiar

What deformed figure appears in Hester's memories while she stands on the scaffold?

• The town-beadle with a crooked staff
• Her father with a hunched back
• A pale scholar with one shoulder higher than the other
• A Continental priest with a withered hand

What is the scaffold described as being part of?

• A gallows for public executions
• The platform of the pillory
• A raised preaching stage for sermons
• The entrance to the meeting-house

What does Hester do at the very end of Chapter 2 to confirm her situation is real?

• She calls out to the crowd
• She looks for a familiar face
• She clutches her child and touches the scarlet letter
• She steps down from the scaffold

True or False: Hester Prynne is physically locked in the pillory with her head confined during her punishment in Chapter 2.

True or False: One of the Puritan women in the crowd argues that Hester deserves the death penalty.

In Chapter 2, Hawthorne writes that the scaffold embodied "the very ideal of ignominy." What does "ignominy" mean?

• Physical pain or torture
• Public shame or disgrace
• Religious devotion
• Legal authority

Hawthorne describes Hester's gown as exceeding the colony's "sumptuary regulations." What are sumptuary regulations?

• Laws governing religious worship practices
• Rules for the construction of public buildings
• Laws restricting personal expenditure and luxury, especially in dress
• Regulations about public gatherings and assemblies

Hester had prepared herself for "the stings and venomous stabs of public contumely." What does "contumely" mean?

• Sympathy and pity
• Silent indifference
• Insulting language or contemptuous treatment
• Legal prosecution