Young, beautiful woman who begins the story defiant against Puritan law, but in the end, she is subdued because of her town's oppressive shame.

Young minister who struggles throughout the novel with an internal battle of societal judgement versus repentance.

Little girl who is full of energy and has a wild nature.

Older man who has some power in Boston and uses his position to gain wealth, shown off in a pretentious manor through the ostentatious manner of his home.

Old, deformed man consumed by revenge and has many parallels with the devil.

What does the rosebush symbolize in  'The Scarlet Letter'?

This stark comparison between Hester's halo and her exit from the prison is called what? 

What does the proximity of the church to the scaffold  suggest about the Puritans' values?

How does the imagery of a snake enhance the reader's understanding of Chillingworth's role in the story?

"He was a person of very striking aspect, with a white, lofty, and impeding brow; large, brown, melancholy eyes, and a mouth which unless when he forcibly compressed it, was apt to be tremulous, expressing both nervous sensibility and a vast power of self restraint." 

This is an example of what kind of characterization?

Hester is an example of what kind of character? 

What does Hester mean when she says, "It is too deeply branded" in the context of her experiences?

The personification of Puritan law as an 'iron arm' implies what about its enforcement?

Why did Hester name the baby Pearl?

What best describes Pearl's contradictory relationship with her mother, Hester Prynne?

What does the opulence of Governor Bellingham's house symbolize?

 Why is the armor's reflection of Hester's A particularly significant during her visit to Governor Bellingham's home?

When Pearl tells the governor that she was picked from the rosebush by her mother, how is Pearl similar to the rosebush outside the prison?

"God gave me the child!" cried she. "He gave her in requital of all things else which ye had taken from me. She is my happiness—she is my torture, none the less! Pearl keeps me her in life! Pearl punishes me, too! See ye not, she is the scarlet letter, only capable of being loved, and so endowed with a millionfold the power of retribution for my sin? Ye shall not take her! I will die first!"

What emotion does Hester primarily exhibit in response to the threat of losing Pearl?

What does Dimmesdale's physical state throughout the majority of the book symbolize?

What does Chillingworth's obsession with Dimmesdale ultimately reveal about his character?

Dimmesdale's dialog is riddled with clues about his truth. As readers, we can detect this because we already know the truth. What is it called when the reader's know something about the characters that the characters do not?

Both Roger Chillingworth and Arthur Dimmesdale change throughout the course of the book. What it is called when characters change throughout the text?

"She now skipped irreverently from one grave to another; until coming to the broad, flat, armorial tombstone of a departed worth--perhaps of Isaac Johnson himself--she began to dance upon it. In reply to her mother's command and entreaty that she would behave more decorously, little Pearl paused to gather the prickly burrs from a tall burdock which grew beside the tomb."

Using context clues, determine what decorously means. 

When Dimmesdale says, "None, save the freedom of a broken law," in response to Chillingworth's accusation that Pearl is wild and spoiled, what is he suggesting about Puritan law and Pearl?

What does Dimmesdale interpret the 'A' in the sky to signify, and what do the townspeople interpret the 'A' in the sky to signify?

Later in the book, the people's perception of Hester changes. What do they then believe the 'A' stands for?

What does the metaphor comparing Hester to a nun imply about her societal role?

"In a word, Roger Chillingworth was a striking evidence of man's faculty of transforming himself into a devil, if he will only, for a reasonable space of time, undertake a devil's office. This unhappy person had effected such a transformation by devoting himself for seven years to the constant analysis of a hear full of torture, and deriving his enjoyment thence, and adding fuel to those fiery tortures which he analyzed and gloated over." 

What theme best matches what the author is attempting to convey using the above quote?

What does Chillingworth mean by the phrase 'Let the black flower blossom as it may'?

Interpret the meaning of the line "Run away, child," answered her mother, "and catch the sunshine. It will soon be gone."

What does the forest primarily symbolize?

“‘I have a strange fancy,’ observed the sensitive minister, ‘that this brook is the boundary between two worlds, and that thou canst never meet thy Pearl again. Or is she an elfish spirit, who, as the legends of our childhood taught us, is forbidden to cross a running stream?”

What literary device is used in the above excerpt?

How does Pearl's tantrum (in reaction to her mother casting off the A) reflect her understanding of her mother's situation?

What does Pearl's act of washing off Dimmesdale's kiss symbolize?

When Pearl kisses her father, what does this action symbolize?

What does the distance between Hester and Dimmesdale's graves signify about their relationship?

Match the quote from the text that best matches the part of the STEAL acronym. 

Which direct evidence from the text best supports the provided theme?