Curriculum/ELA/11th Grade/ Unit 7: The Scarlet Letter/Lesson 13
Lesson 13
ELA
Unit 7
11th Grade
Lesson 13 of 26
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- Objective
- Readings and Materials
- Target Task
- Key Questions
Objective
Analyze the author’s characterization of Dimmesdale at this point in the novel.
Compare the two scenes that have occurred on the scaffold, analyzing their significance in the novel.
Readings and Materials
Book:The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne — Chapter 12: The Minister’s Vigil
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Target Task
Tasks that represents the peak thinking of the lesson - mastery will indicate whether or not objective was achieved
Question 1
According to the narrator on pp. 62–63, one consequence of Dimmesdale’s failure to publicly confess his guilt was
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Which choice provides the best evidence to support the answer to the previous question?
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Question 2
What does Pearl request of Dimmesdale twice on p. 61? How does he respond and what does his answer reveal about him?
Question 3
Compare the scaffold scene described in Chapters 2 and 3 with this scaffold scene in Chapter 12. What is similar and different about these two scenes?
Key Questions
Questions about the text that will help guide the students understanding
- Where does Dimmesdale go in the middle of the night? Why?
- Note the setting of this scene. What other scene was set on this scaffold? How is the situation similar? Different?
- According to the narrator, what role does cowardice play in Dimmesdale’s decision to not publicly repent these past seven years?
- Track how the author develops Dimmesdale as a coward over the next several pages.
- Who joins Dimmesdale on the scaffold? What does the author finally reveal to the reader here? What does the scaffold represent?
- Dimmesdale has been associated with darkness and night throughout the novel. What do night and darkness represent? How do you know?
- According to the narrator on p. 67, it was common to attribute meteors to what source in those days? But to what does the narrator attribute the fact that Dimmesdale sees a scarlet A in the sky following the meteor?
- Why is it significant that Hester, Pearl, and Dimmesdale are only united in darkness?
- What does Pearl ask of Dimmesdale? How does he answer? What does this reveal about him?
- Who is revealed, in the light of the meteor, to be standing near the scaffold? How is he described? How does his appearance impact Dimmesdale?
- What does the narrator tell us about the minister’s sermon that following day? Why is this significant?
- “A pure hand needs no glove to cover it.” Who says this? What does it mean?
- How does Hawthorne’s characterization of Dimmesdale help to develop the theme of sin? Of shame? How does the setting of this chapter add to the development of theme?
Lesson 12
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