Chapter 3:
7. Describe the stranger standing next to the Indian during Hester's punishment.
-This man who Hester sees when she is when she is executing her punishment is someone she must be connected to. They said that when the man saw her looking at her in a way that showed she know him, he put his finger to his lip so she would not say anything. This man did not want Hester to reveal something about him so he must be a bad person or he is hiding something.
10. What argument does Dimmesdale use to try convince Hester to name her "fellow-sinner"? How does Hester respond? how does her child respond?
-Dimmesdale says "thou headrest what this good man says, and seest the accountability under which I labor. If thou feelest it to be for thy soul's peace, and that thy earthly punishment will thereby be made more effectual to salvation, I charge thee to speak out the name of thy fellow-sinner! 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? Heaven hath granted thee an open ignominy, that thereby thou mayest work out an open triumph over the evil within thee, and the sorrow without. Take heed how thou denies to him - who, perchance, hath not the courage to grasp it for himself - the bitter, but wholesome, cup that is now presented to thy lips!" What he was trying to say to Hester was that trying to save him from the wrath of people will not help him because living in sin is far worse than letting it out and that Hester would be doing this man a favor if she was to say his name. Hester refuses to say the name of her fellow sinner to save him. Hester's child rose up one of its arms to the young clergy man and cried out a little cry.
11. Why does Hester say the scarlet letter can never be removed from her breast?
-Hester says that the scarlet letter is part of her and she can never remove it. Even if they could remove the actual letter she would still have it on her because eit is in her soul.
-This man who Hester sees when she is when she is executing her punishment is someone she must be connected to. They said that when the man saw her looking at her in a way that showed she know him, he put his finger to his lip so she would not say anything. This man did not want Hester to reveal something about him so he must be a bad person or he is hiding something.
10. What argument does Dimmesdale use to try convince Hester to name her "fellow-sinner"? How does Hester respond? how does her child respond?
-Dimmesdale says "thou headrest what this good man says, and seest the accountability under which I labor. If thou feelest it to be for thy soul's peace, and that thy earthly punishment will thereby be made more effectual to salvation, I charge thee to speak out the name of thy fellow-sinner! 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? Heaven hath granted thee an open ignominy, that thereby thou mayest work out an open triumph over the evil within thee, and the sorrow without. Take heed how thou denies to him - who, perchance, hath not the courage to grasp it for himself - the bitter, but wholesome, cup that is now presented to thy lips!" What he was trying to say to Hester was that trying to save him from the wrath of people will not help him because living in sin is far worse than letting it out and that Hester would be doing this man a favor if she was to say his name. Hester refuses to say the name of her fellow sinner to save him. Hester's child rose up one of its arms to the young clergy man and cried out a little cry.
11. Why does Hester say the scarlet letter can never be removed from her breast?
-Hester says that the scarlet letter is part of her and she can never remove it. Even if they could remove the actual letter she would still have it on her because eit is in her soul.