||Scarlet Letter 1: 45-56||

“In our nature, however, there is a provision, alike marvelous and merciful, that the sufferer should never know the intensity of what he endures by its present torture, but chiefly by the pang that rankles after it” (52).

• It can certainly be assumed that for one to go through such a lengthy experience of being unjustly judged by others is extremely agonizing and painful. However, this quote explains that this society is slightly different. One is not quite affected by the agony until after the experience. Regardless of when the pain is felt, Hester Prynne is clearly accepting her sin but may not feel the “pang” just yet. She is being unfairly judged by the townspeople as if they are not flawed human beings. This correlates to Proctor and his search for forgiveness, only to be judged by others that were certainly guilty of their own sins and had no right to look down upon him.
  
  If it is a pious area, why do the townspeople judge when they are not perfect themselves?

“Here, there was the taint of deepest sin in the most sacred quality of human life, working such effect, that the world was only the darker for this woman’s beauty, and the more lost for the infant that she had borne” (53).

• This quote explicates that in Hester Prynne’s case, one of the most beautiful parts of life, such as childbirth was tainted by the sin through which it occurred—adultery. Hester Prynne is certainly guilty of this sin and is not ashamed to accept her faults. However, it may be safe to assume that Hester desperately wants absolution from what she has done because perhaps, like Proctor, she is a genuinely good person but simply made a mistake. Considering what occurred in “The Crucible,” we are aware that forgiveness cannot come from flawed human being, so Hester Prynne must find it elsewhere.
  
  Will Hester Prynne continue to let others torture her unjustly?