"Why, look you, she may cover it with a brooch, or such like heathenish adornment, and so walk the streets as brave as ever.” (49)
The letter A elaborately embroidered with gold thread on her dress showed that Hester did not need to cover it up in order to be proud. Since she was a seamstress, she had the option of making it small and hiding it, like one of the townspeople suggested. To them, wearing a garment confidently was not a suitable punishment. Everyone wanted to see her suffer in the worst possible way. As one woman stated, “Let her cover the mark as she will, the pang of it will always be in her heart” (49), they had no sympathy for her. Hester accepted her sin, but she would have to live with the consequences forever. No one will try to stand up for her. Similarly, no one tried to stand up for the "witches" in The Crucible.
“In our nature, however, there is a provision, alike marvelous and merciful, that the sufferer should never know the intensity of what he endures by its present torture, but chiefly by the pang that rankles after it” (52).
The townspeople have no sympathy for a sinner. For Hester, just walking to the market place with an A on her dress was torture. Standing on a platform where everyone could laugh at her was even worse. In The Crucible, death would be an awful punishment for Proctor. What was waiting for him in hell would be unbearable, “God damns our kind especially, and we will burn together” (120). Hester will never know the seriousness of her crime through the current punishment. The worse is always yet to come.
Questions:
Why does Hester not make an attempt to hide the letter A?
Does she feel any shame in wearing it? If she doesn’t, will she receive another punishment?
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