Question

Which excerpt from Chapter 3 of The Scarlet Letter is the best evidence that the stranger in the marketplace wants to keep his true identity a secret? When he found the eyes of Hester Prynne fastened on his own, and saw that she appeared to recognize him, he slowly and calmly raised his finger, made a gesture with it in the air, and laid it on his lips. By the Indian’s side, and evidently sustaining a companionship with him, stood a white man, clad in a strange disarray of civilized and savage costume. A writhing horror twisted itself across his features, like a snake gliding swiftly over them, and making one little pause, with all its wreathed intervolutions in open sight. There was a remarkable intelligence in his features, as of a person who had so cultivated his mental part that it could not fail to mould the physical to itself, and become manifest by unmistakable tokens.

Answer 1

Answer:

When he found the eyes of Hester Prynne fastened on his own, and saw that she appeared to recognize him, he slowly and calmly raised his finger, made a gesture with it in the air, and laid it on his lips.

Explanation:

Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter tells the story of a woman who was accused of adultery and punished for the sin in a Puritan society. The woman, Hester Prynne had to wear a scarlet letter A to indicate or 'show' everyone about the sin she had committed, and be 'showcased' in public for 3 hours every day.

The given excerpt from Chapter 3 gave details about the marketplace where Hester Prynne and her daughter were revealed and 'displayed' for everyone to see. The womenfolk took the chance to berate and gossip about her. And among the general public who had come to see Prynne was a man who Prynne seemed to recognize. But he held his hands to his lips so that she will not reveal him or his secret. This gesture seems to suggest that the man wanted to keep his true identity a secret.