Question

What does the narrator mean when he says that Hester’s first day released from prison was ""a more real torture"" than the day she was paraded in front of the crowd in the marketplace? Explain.

Answer 1

Answer and Explanation:

This question is about the novel "The Scarlet Letter", by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hester Prynne lives in Boston in the 1600s, when societal values were tremendously based on the concept of sin derived from the  Bible. At a certain point, Hester is paraded through the streets to be pointed at for being an adulteress. However, she could find in herself some sort of courage, of defiance, to go through the public humiliation. Now that she is released from prison, her feelings are very different:

But now, with this unattended walk from her prison-door, began the daily custom, and she must either sustain and carry it forward by the ordinary resources of her nature, or sink beneath it. She could no longer borrow from the future, to help her through the present grief. To-morrow would bring its own trial with it;

Hester can now see the life ahead of her. She is aware that she will be forever shunned for her sin, living in loneliness. This is a much more torturous punishment for her than being paraded. There is nothing to look forward to, no change to come, no relief.