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The Scarlet Letter Compassion and Forgiveness Quotes Page 1
Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
| Quote #1 "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." (2.6) |
Here we are exposed to a rare voice in the Puritan community. This young woman is sympathetic to Hester in a way that most of the townspeople are not, at least at the outset of the novel. How does this woman’s opinion complicate or confirm your understanding of mid-17th century Boston society? Why do you think we are presented with such a diversity of voices and opinions in these opening pages?
| Quote #2 "What do we talk of marks and brands, whether on the bodice of her gown, or the flesh of her forehead?" 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 no law for it? Truly there is, 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!" (2.7) |
Here we get some rare insight into why the townspeople are so harsh and unforgiving. This woman argues that Hester’s punishment should be far more extreme because she has offended the entire Boston society. To sin, we learn, is not only to injure one’s own reputation but to also mess with the entire town’s reputation. We might infer that this is a bad thing because the community as a whole then looks bad in the eyes of God.
| Quote #3 "Be not silent from any mistaken pity and tenderness for him; for, believe me, Hester, though he were to step down from a high place, and stand there beside thee, on thy pedestal of shame, yet better were it so, than to hide a guilty heart through life. What can thy silence do for him, except it tempt him--yea, compel him, as it were--to add hypocrisy to sin?" (3.26) |
According to Dimmesdale, grace and forgiveness are earned only through the fire of public repentance and shame, and not through private penitence before God. Does Hester subscribe to this same belief about forgiveness? Does the narrator?
