The Scarlet Letter 3: 72-91

“She would become the general symbol at which the preacher and moralist might point, and in which they might vivify and embody their images of woman’s frailty and sinful passions.  Thus the young and pure would be taught to look at her, with the scarlet letter flaming on her breast [..] as the figure, the body, and the reality of sin” (73).

• In this quote Hester’s future is discussed.  It is realized that because of her sin she will be made an example of.  The townspeople want her on the scaffold for everyone to see.  They want the people to see how sinfulness affects them.  For the rest of her life she will have to live with the shame of her sin, and be reminded of it everyday while she stands on the scaffold.  This may be another underlying reason for the choice of punishment.  They may want to use this to scare others into not performing these actions.  Whatever the reason is, she has to live with this punishment forever.  
  

Will Hester’s punishment have a positive or negative affect on the townspeople?  Will there be any affect at all?  

“When strangers looked curiously at the scarlet letter, - and none ever failed to do so, - they branded it afresh into Hester’s soul; so that oftentimes, she could scarcely refrain, yet always did refrain, from covering the symbol with her hand.  But then, again, an accustomed eye had likewise its own anguish to inflict.  Its cool stare of familiarity was intolerable” (79).

• In this quote we see how Hester is affected by the constant stares as she walks around the colony.  It must be very difficult to have to live with the constant stares from everyone around her.  The worst part of it is that they all look down upon her as an awful sinner, when all of them have sinned as well.  It is unfair to her to have to live with the stares everyday.  It states that it is worst for her when it is an old stare.  She says, “The spot never grew callous; it seemed, on the contrary, to grow more sensitive with daily torture” (79).  It must be very difficult to go through the stares, the whispers, and the mocking constantly.  

Will Hester ever break down from the constant stress of the stares?