The Scarlet Letter Group

Question:

swill1992
swill1992
Student
High School - 11th Grade

In Chapters 4-8 of "The Scarlet Letter," what two reasons does the church give to ensure Hester's losing custody of Pearl?

Rate question:
 

Posted by swill1992 on Monday September 1, 2008 at 6:06 PM and tagged with ch 4, ch 5, ch 6, ch 7, ch 8, characters, hester, pearl, plot.


Answers:

  1. michael336
    michael336 Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    While the magistrate was all for removing Pearl from Hester's care, Dimmesdale pled in Hester's favor that God had givern her the child.  Acceding to this line of reasoning, the magistrate decided that Pearl could continue to be raised by her mother on the condition that there would be no further scandal.  However, since acertaining Pearl's "ignorance" of the catechism, he put Dimmesdale in charge of teaching her spiritual lessons, since Hesther has obviously failed in this regard. 

    By putting Hesther and Dimmesdale thus in more frequent proximity, the magistrate has unwittingly increased the chance of more scandal.  Can Dimmesdale and Hesther avoid repating their "mistake"?

    Rate answer:
     

    Posted by michael336 on Tuesday September 2, 2008 at 5:45 AM

Lookup any word on eNotes with our dictionary. Highlight the word and press SHIFT + D for a definition, or SHIFT + T for a synonym.