How we cite our quotes: (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)
This woman might be the only person in the entire community who actually feels sorry for Hester. It is because she's young, and has a young child? Or does she maybe have some shameful secret of her own?
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)
Talk about legalistic: this woman actually name-checks both the Bible ("Scripture") and secular law ("the statute-book") to explain why Hester deserves to be executed. Way harsh. (Although check out Hawthorne's catty little moment when he basically accuses her of being jealous—she's the "ugliest" woman there, so we're supposed to think that she couldn't have had an affair even if she'd wanted to.)
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)
Irony alert: Dimmesdale is practically begging Hester to reveal his name, so he won't be "compelled" to hide his sin. She sees it at compassion; he sees it as cruel.
Quote #4
The days of the far-off future would toil onward, still with the same burden for her to take up, and bear along with her, but never to fling down; for the accumulating days, and added years, would pile up their misery upon the heap of shame. (5.1)
Hester's punishment isn't to wear the scarlet letter for a year, or even five years: it's to wear it for the rest of her life, and—oh yeah—to be ostracized and shunned until the day she dies. Forgiveness doesn't even enter into it.
Quote #5
"Do you see that woman with the embroidered badge?" they would say to strangers. "It is our Hester, —the town's own Hester, —who is so kind to the poor, so helpful to the sick, so comfortable to the afflicted!" (13.3)
Great. Now that Hester's tending to the poor and sick, the townspeople are all, "Oh, look at our Hester!" Not that she still gets to come to church or gets invited to the Tupperware parties—we're not talking forgiveness, after all.
Quote #6
"The judgment of God is on me," answered the conscience-stricken priest. "It is too mighty for me to struggle with!"
"Heaven would show mercy," rejoined Hester, "hadst thou but the strength to take advantage of it." (17.43-44)
Let's say you've messed up. Really messed up—like, can't-even-talk-about-it messed up. Being forgiven can actually be harder than being punished, because you feel like you deserve something really bad. (Don't believe that it can mess with your head? Just ask this guy.)
Quote #7
"Thou shalt forgive me!" cried Hester, flinging herself on the fallen leaves beside him [Dimmesdale]. "Let God punish! Thou shalt forgive!" (17.18)
As if you needed any more proof of how awesome Hester is (check out her "Character Analysis" to see what we're talking about), witness this: she doesn't ask for forgiveness. She demands it. (You go, girl!) But more seriously, what she seems to be saying is, "don't you dare become like all of those cruel townspeople! God is the only person who can punish me. We humans are meant to forgive one another." Philosopher Hester strikes again and argues that Dimmesdale has to forgive her—it's what humans do.
Quote #8
"I do forgive you, Hester," replied the minister, at length, with a deep utterance out of an abyss of sadness, but no anger. "I freely forgive you now. May God forgive us both!" (17.21)
Well, we're glad for Hester, but we're still not sure why she needs Dimmesdale to forgive her. (Okay, okay, beside the whole Chillingworth thing.) From our perspective, Dimmesdale is the one who really needs mercy.
Quote #9
"God knows; and He is merciful! He hath proved his mercy, most of all, in my afflictions. By giving me this burning torture to bear upon my breast! By sending yonder dark and terrible old man, to keep the torture always at red-heat! By bringing me hither, to die this death of triumphant ignominy before the people! Had either of these agonies been wanting, I had been lost for ever! Praised be his name! His will be done! Farewell!" (23.35)
If it weren't disrespectful, we might say that Dimmesdale and God sound like they have a pretty messed-up, abusive relationship: God sends "burning torture" and "triumphant ignominy," but Dimmesdale thinks he totally deserves it.
Quote #10
"Hadst thou sought the whole earth over," said he, looking darkly at the clergyman, "there was no one place so secret,—no high place nor lowly place, where thou couldst have escaped me,—save on this very scaffold!" (23.18)
Dimmesdale finds forgiveness, though not from Chillingworth. Chillingworth admits that Dimmesdale has escaped his revenge. Is Chillingworth capable of forgiveness at this point?
Quote #11
"May God forgive thee!" said the minister. "Thou, too, hast deeply sinned!" (23.28-29)
My, how the tables have turned. It's one thing to mercilessly pursue your enemy without compassion or forgiveness for seven years; it's quite another when all of a sudden you're the one who needs forgiveness. This reminds us of something. Oh yeah! The Golden Rule: one of the most important underpinnings of the entire Christian religion. Maybe Chillingworth should pick up the Bible now and then.