The Scarlet Letter 2: 56-72

"Truly, friend; and methinks it must gladden your heart, after your troubles and sojourn in the wilderness,’ said the townsman, ‘to find yourself, at length, in a land where iniquity is searched out, and punished in the sight of rulers and people, as here in our godly New England"(58).

• In this quote we see that one of the townspeople shares the story with Roger Chillingworth, a stranger whose name is later told to us.  He was taken away for a while and is being told about Hester’s sin and the punishment.  The townsman, like any other person in the town, is almost proud of the fact that Hester is being punished for her sin.  It relates to “The Crucible” in the way that the people seek reparation for their sins, but may not exactly know how to find the way to cleanse themselves.  This punishment makes people happy, but how can standing on a scaffold while wearing the letter “A” sewn to her dress actually help Hester cleanse herself of her sin.  The people in this society look just for punishment rather than any type of redemption.  

Will the people of the town become dissatisfied with the punishment?  Will Hester be able to be cleansed of her sin and find redemption?

“Heaven hath granted thee an open ignominy, that thereby thou mayest work out an open triumph over the evil within thee, and the sorrow within.  Take heed how thou deniest him - who, perchance, hath not the courage grasp it for himself” (63).

• In this quote we see how the townspeople will try to appeal to Hester to give up the name of the man who she had the affair with.  They speak of how her sin is open because of the pregnancy, and that it gives her a chance to openly overcome sin.  They want her to give the name of the man so that he can too overcome the sin.  They plead with her because they must also believe that it is somewhat unfair to her and the people that she must bear all the punishment for the sin that two people committed.  It must be tempting for her to give up the name, and it will be interesting to see how this develops in the plot of the story.
  

How long will it be until Hester gives up the name of the man, and what will be the reason for her doing it?