The Scarlet Letter Chapter Two: The Market Place Summary

We get a description of the solemn way Puritans observe any act of punishment, from the execution of a hardened criminal to a child’s whipping. Imagine a public whipping for disobeying your parents.
The townspeople are gathered to observe Hester Prynne’s punishment.
The women of the town gossip as they wait. One says Hester should have been put to death for her sin. Another says that Hester’s punishment is WAY too light – simply a letter A on the bodice of her dress could be easily covered up. A third spectator scolds all of them, saying she is sure Hester Prynne will feel the mark every day.
When Hester Prynne appears in the doorway of the prison with her 3-month-old daughter in her arms, the women’s disapproval turns into a tornado of anger and intensity: how dare that adulteress make the scarlet letter A on her bodice so intricate!
Hester has sewn her own letter A onto her chest – and, dang, it’s pretty. The townspeople think she’s mocking them and mocking her punishment.
The same woman who scolded them before says that she is certain that, as Hester embroidered the A, she felt each stroke of the needle in her heart.
Hester proceeds to the center of town, where she is placed in the pillory (a wooden structure where criminals are displayed to jeering crowds).
As Hester stands there, she thinks of her mother, her father, and an unnamed scholar.
Hester’s shame really hits home when everyone in the town is staring her down: her scarlet A will always mark her as an outsider.
She squeezes her baby so tightly at her sudden realization that it cries out. Ouch!

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