Excerpt I from The Scarlet Letter

Excerpt I from The Scarlet Letter Page 1

notes, questions, and commentary  2005 and 2008 C. Brantley Collins, Jr.

In this scene, Hester Prynne is released from jail before she faces her punishment: the humiliation of being

publicly denounced and interrogated while she stands on a platform in the town marketplace. At the beginning

of this scene, several of the women of the town are exchanging their opinions about this punishment.

“Goodwives,” said a hard-featured dame of

fifty, “I’ll tell ye a piece of my mind. It would be

greatly for the public behoof, if we women, being of

mature age and church-members in good repute,

5 should have the handling of such malefactresses as

this Hester Prynne. What think ye, gossips

? If the

hussy stood up for judgment before us five, that are

now here in a knot together, would she come off

with such a sentence as the worshipful magistrates

10 have awarded? Marry

, I trow not!”

“People say,” said another, “that the Reverend

Master Dimmesdale, her godly pastor, takes it very

grievously to heart that such a scandal should have

come upon his congregation.”

15 “The magistrates are God-fearing gentlemen,

but merciful overmuch—that is a truth,” added a

third autumnal matron. “At the very least, they

should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester

Prynne’s forehead. Madam Hester would have

20 winced at that, I warrant me. But she—the naughty

baggage

—little will she care what they put upon the

bodice of her gown! Why, look you, she may cover it

with a brooch, or such like heathenish adornment,

and so walk the streets as brave as ever!”

25 “Ah, but,” interposed, more softly, a young

wife, holding a child by the hand, “Let her cover the

mark as she will, the pang of it will be always in her

heart.”

“What do we talk of marks and brands, whether

30 on the bodice of her gown, or the flesh of her fore-

head?” cried another female, the ugliest as well as

the most pitiless of these self-constituted judges.

“This woman has brought shame upon us all, and

ought to die. Is there not law for it? Truly there is,

35 both in the Scripture and the statute-book. Then let

the magistrates, who have made it of no effect,

thank themselves if their own wives and daughters

go astray!”

“Mercy on us, goodwife,” exclaimed a man in

40 the crowd, “is there no virtue in woman, save what

springs from a wholesome fear of the gallows? That

is the hardest word yet! Hush, now, gossips! for the

lock is turning in the prison-door, and here comes

Mistress Prynne herself.”

45 The door of the jail being flung open from

within, there appeared, in the first place, like a

black shadow emerging into sunshine, the grim and

grisly presence of the town-beadle, with a sword by

his side, and his staff of office in his hand. This

50 personage prefigured and represented in his aspect

the whole dismal severity of the Puritanic code of

a term of familiarity used by women

a light oath expressing surprise or indignation

a woman worthy of contempt, esp. a prostitute

law, which it was his business to administer in its

final and closest application to the offender.

Stretching forth the official staff in his left hand, he

55 laid his right upon the shoulder of a young woman,

whom he thus drew forward; until, on the threshold

of the prison-door, she repelled him, by an action

marked with natural dignity and force of character,

and stepped into the open air, as if by her own free

60 will. She bore in her arms a child, a baby of some

three months old, who winked and turned aside its

little face from the too vivid light of day; because its

existence, heretofore

, had brought it acquainted

only with the grey twilight of a dungeon, or other

65 darksome apartment of the prison.

When the young woman—the mother of this

child—stood fully revealed before the crowd, it

seemed to be her first impulse to clasp the infant

closely to her bosom; not so much by an impulse of

70 motherly affection, as that she might thereby

conceal a certain token, which was wrought or

fastened into her dress. In a moment, however,

wisely judging that one token of her shame would

but poorly serve to hide another, she took the baby

75 on her arm, and, with a burning blush, and yet a

haughty smile, and a glance that would not be

abashed, looked around at her townspeople and

neighbors. On the breast of her gown, in fine red

cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and

80 fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the

letter A. It was so artistically done, and with so

much fertility and gorgeous luxuriance of fancy, that

it had all the effect of a last and fitting decoration

to the apparel which she wore; and which was of a

85 splendor in accordance with the taste of the age,

but greatly beyond what was allowed by the sumptu-

ary

regulations of the colony.

The young woman was tall, with a figure of

perfect elegance on a large scale. She had dark and

90 abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sun-

shine with a gleam, and a face which, besides being

beautiful from regularity of feature and richness of

complexion, had the impressiveness belonging to a

marked brow and deep black eyes. She was ladylike,

95 too, after the manner of the feminine gentility of

those days; characterized by a certain state and

dignity, rather than by the delicate, evanescent,

and indescribable grace, which is now recognized as

its indication. And never had Hester Prynne ap-

100 peared more ladylike, in the antique interpretation

of the term, than as she issued from the prison.

Those who had before known her, and had expected

up to now; up to this time (“hitherto”)

related to personal expenditures and intended to

keep people from being extravagant

Excerpt I from The Scarlet Letter Page 2

notes, questions, and commentary  2005 and 2008 C. Brantley Collins, Jr.

to behold her dimmed and obscured by a disastrous

cloud, were astonished, and even startled, to per-

105 ceive how her beauty shone out, and made a halo of

the misfortune and ignominy in which she was

enveloped. It may be true, that, to a sensitive

observer, there was something exquisitely painful in

it. Her attire, which, indeed, she had wrought for

110 the occasion, in prison, and had modelled much

after her own fancy, seemed to express the attitude

of her spirit, the desperate recklessness of her

mood, by its wild and picturesque peculiarity. But

the point which drew all eyes, and, as it were,

115 transfigured the wearer—so that both men and

women, who had been familiarly acquainted with

Hester Prynne, were now impressed as if they beheld

her for the first time—was that SCARLET LETTER, so

fantastically embroidered and illuminated upon her

120 bosom. It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of

the ordinary relations with humanity, and enclosing

her in a sphere by herself.

“She hath good skill at her needle, that’s

certain,” remarked one of her female spectators;

125 “but did ever a woman, before this brazen hussy,

contrive such a way of showing it! Why, gossips,

what is it but to laugh in the faces of our godly

magistrates, and make a pride out of what they,

worthy gentlemen, meant for a punishment?”

130 “It were well,” muttered the most iron-visaged

of the old dames, “if we stripped Madam Hester’s

rich gown off her dainty shoulders; and as for the

red letter, which she hath stitched so curiously, I'll

bestow a rag of mine own rheumatic flannel, to

135 make a fitter one!”

“Oh, peace, neighbors, peace!” whispered their

youngest companion; “do not let her hear you! Not

a stitch in that embroidered letter, but she has felt

it in her heart.”

Excerpt I from The Scarlet Letter Page 3

notes, questions, and commentary  2005 and 2008 C. Brantley Collins, Jr.

Comprehension Questions

Based on the context in which they appear, what do

the following words mean?

behoof (line 3)

sentence (line 9)

trow (line 10)

autumnal (line 17)

warrant (line 20)

will (first occurrence on line 27)

constituted (line 32)

save (line 40)

springs (line 41)

wholesome (line 41)

aspect (line 50)

thus (line 56)

token (line 71)

fantastic (line 80)

fancy (line 82)

after (line 95)

state (line 96)

antique (line 100)

issued (line 101)

sensitive (line 107)

impressed (line 117)

curiously (line 133)

fitter (line 135)

Based on the context in which they appear, what do

the following pronouns refer to?

it (line 36)

its (line 99)

it (line 126)

it (line 127)

What rhetorical device is used on lines 6-10, and

what is its purpose?

What is the implication of the woman’s choice of the

word “awarded” (line 10)?

Why does the third woman argue that Hester should

have been branded as part of the punishment for her

crime (lines 15-24)?

What is the meaning of the fourth woman’s argu-

ment (lines 25-28)?

What implication is the narrator making about the

psychological source of the fifth woman’s harshness

(lines 29-38)?

Why, according to the fifth woman, should the

magistrates “thank themselves if their own wives

and daughters go astray” (lines 35-37)? What

rhetorical device is the use of the word “thank” an

example of?

What do you think is the narrator’s purpose in

including this argument among the women?

Why is the word “woman” singular on line 40?

What is the meaning of the man’s comment about

women on lines 40-41? What tone is he expressing—

what is his attitude toward women? Think carefully.

What is the symbolic significance of the town-

beadle?

What is the implication of the phrase “as if by her

own free will” (lines 59-60)?

What is the metaphorical significance of the baby’s

turning its head away from the light (lines 61-65)?

Why does Hester move the baby away from her

bosom (lines 74-75)?

What is the significance of the narrator’s use of the

word “fertility” (line 82)?

What rhetorical device is used on lines 90-91, and

what is its effect?

What rhetorical device appears on lines 103-104 and

lines 105-106, and what is its effect?

What examples of irony can be found on lines 105-

111?

Who would qualify as a “sensitive observer” (lines

107-108)—why could most of the people in the crowd

not be considered sensitive observers?

In what way does Hester “make a pride” (line 128)

out of her punishment?

What does the expression “it were well” mean (line

130)?

What is ironic about the fifth woman’s use of the

word “bestow” on line 134? What does she mean by

“rheumatic flannel”? (Rheumatism is arthritis.)

Based on her comments (lines 25-28 and 136-139),

what do you think the fourth woman’s definition of

true punishment is?

What is the implied metaphor contained in lines 137-

139?

Questions for Discussion and Writing

What is the effect of the narrator’s description of

Hester? Describe her reaction to her situation. How

does she feel, and why does she present herself

differently? What do we learn about her character

from this scene?

Discuss what the passage conveys about Puritan

society, especially the values and moral attitudes of

the Puritans.