The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne chapter 3, narrated by Isaac Birchall Hester’s husband, the man who sent her to the “New World” and promised to follow but never came was now standing at the edge of the crowd. He is dressed in traditional English clothes mixed with native American clothes. The man makes a small gesture to Hester, telling her that she should make no sign of recognising him, he then turns to a near bystander and inquires why the woman is standing on the platform. He explains that he has been held captive by some native Indians, but that after showing them some European medicine, they let him go; he has only just arrived in Boston. The bystander tells Him that Hester was married to an English scholar and that they lived in Amsterdam together to further the husband’s studies. The two decided together that they should move to the new world, and the husband sent Hester to Boston with some money to secure a house while he sorted his affairs, but the man never came. Hester’s husband asks the bystander if the identity of the father is known. The man replies that it isn’t known, and as a punishment she is forced to stand on the scaffold for 3 hours and for the rest of her Days, wear the Scarlet Letter on her chest.
The scene then takes us back to Hester on the platform, and she is betrayed by the governor of the settlement, and he calls her forth to give the name of the father. Hester again refuses and is forced to sit through a sermon on sin given by the town’s young Reverend, Mr Dimmesdale. After her punishment, she is led back to her prison cell.
Support the Show
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-essential-reads/subscribe
Get SurfShark and protect yourself online today.
VPN: https://get.surfshark.net/aff_c?offer_id=926&aff_id=20389
Antivirus: https://get.surfshark.net/aff_c?offer_id=934&aff_id=20389
Get data brokers to stop selling your information with:
Incogni: https://get.incogni.io/aff_c?offer_id=1219&aff_id=20389
COMIC By @Valenangelr https://www.instagram.com/valenangelr
Social INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/theessentialreads
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/isaacbirchall98
KO-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/theessentialreads
STORE: https://the-essential-reads.myshopify.com/