The story uses ambiguity to make readers question the reality of Ethan Brand’s finding of the Unpardonable Sin. How do you interpret Ethan Brand’s quest for the Unpardonable Sin? Has Ethan Brand truly found the Unpardonable Sin? Is his conviction the result of guilt for his actions?

How would the story change if written from Ethan Brand’s first-person perspective? How would the story change if written from Bartram’s point of view?

Nathaniel Hawthorne explored the idea of the moral implications of amoral intellectualism and the pursuit of knowledge in his 1834 short story “Rappaccini’s Daughter.” Compare the application of the theme in the story with the application of the theme in “Rappaccini’s Daughter.”