Chapters+11+&+12+Dimmesdale+Work

// The Scarlet Letter // Making Sense of Chapters 11 & 12 Overarching question: Is Dimmesdale sympathetic? How yes and how no? Group I: Re-look at pages 125- 134 and use these questions to guide your work: Group II: Re-look at pages 134 from “The minister grew…” to 139 (just the first paragraph). Use these questions to guide your work: Group III: Re-look at pages 139- the end of the chapter. Use these questions to guide your work:
 * How is Chillingworth moving forward with his revenge?
 * Why does Dimmesdale’s “public veneration torture him” (128)?
 * Note examples of the dark and light imagery. What does it reveal?
 * What is meant by, “He had spoken the very truth, and transformed it into the veriest falsehood” (129)? How does this make him sympathetic? How does it not?
 * What is his intention when he leaves his house at the end of chapter 11?
 * Is his repenting genuine at the start of chapter 12? How yes / How no?
 * Note examples of dark and light imagery (including the meteor). What does it reveal?
 * What does he imagine as he stands on the scaffold? (Note – there are several things he imagines) What do these reveal?
 * What promise does Dimmesdale give to Pearl? What is her response? What is your reaction?
 * How is this scaffold scene similar to the first? How is it different?
 * How is the meteor described? What are the symbolic implications for the meteor?
 * Does Hester have a responsibility to confide in Dimmesdale about Chillingworth?
 * Does she betray Dimmesdale for not sharing his identity? Why or why not?
 * What is the result of the night on his sermon the next day?
 * How is the “A” in the sky interpreted by Dimmesdale? By the sexton? What might these differences reveal?