Question

Read this excerpt from chapter 2 of The Scarlet Letter using comprehension strategies. “Goodwives,” said a hard-featured dame of fifty, “I’ll tell ye a piece of my mind. It would be greatly for the public behoof, if we women, being of mature age and church-members in good repute, should have the handling of such malefactresses as this Hester Prynne. What think ye, gossips? If the hussy stood up for judgment before us five, that are now here in a knot together, would she come off with such a sentence as the worshipful magistrates have awarded?” What is the meaning of this excerpt?

Answer 1

Answer: The speaker believes that she and her peers ought to be in charge of assigning sentences in cases like Hester's.

The speaker is a woman who considers herself pious and moral. She is discussing the case of Hester Prynne with other similar women. The speaker states that the punishment Hester received (wearing the scarlet letter) is much too lenient. She believes that she and her peers should be in charge of cases like her, because they would be able to punish the criminals in the right way.

Answer 2

The meaning of this excerpt is that these women, 'goodwives', didn't agree with the decision that the 'worshipful magistrates' had awarded Hester Prynne, who ran away from her husband and then got impregnated by another man. They think of her as a promiscuous woman, who doesn't deserve the light sentence she was given, but if she were in front of those women to judge her, she would have gotten a completely different sentence. A much harsher one.