Question

Read this excerpt from chapter 2 of The Scarlet Letter using comprehension strategies.

Answer 1

Answer:

The meaning of this excerpt is:

A) The speaker believes that she and her peers ought to be in charge of assigning sentences in cases like Hester’s.

Explanation:

Hester Prynne is the main character in Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel "The Scarlet Letter", published in 1850. The story is set in Puritan Boston, in the 1600s. Hester has a child as a result of an affair, which leads to her being publicly humiliated. She is forced to wear a scarlet A in her chest, as a sign of her sin - adultery. Still, in the excerpt we are analyzing here, there are those who think of this as a light sentence. The woman who is speaking believes matters such as the one involving Hester should fall into her own hands and the hands of other pious women. They should be the ones punishing, choosing the sentence of women like Hester.