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Her
attire
,
which
indeed
,
she
had
wrought
for
the
occasion
in
prison
,
and
had
modelled
much
after
her
own
fancy
,
seemed
to
express
the
attitude
of
her
spirit
,
the
desperate
recklessness
of
her
mood
,
by
its
wild
and
picturesque
peculiarity
.
But
the
point
which
drew
all
eyes
,
and
,
as
it
were
,
transfigured
the
wearer
--
so
that
both
men
and
women
who
had
been
familiarly
acquainted
with
Hester
Prynne
were
now
impressed
as
if
they
beheld
her
for
the
first
time
--
was
that
SCARLET
LETTER
,
so
fantastically
embroidered
and
illuminated
upon
her
bosom
.
It
had
the
effect
of
a
spell
,
taking
her
out
of
the
ordinary
relations
with
humanity
,
and
enclosing
her
in
a
sphere
by
herself
.
"
She
hath
good
skill
at
her
needle
,
that
's
certain
,
"
remarked
one
of
her
female
spectators
;
"
but
did
ever
a
woman
,
before
this
brazen
hussy
,
contrive
such
a
way
of
showing
it
?
Why
,
gossips
,
what
is
it
but
to
laugh
in
the
faces
of
our
godly
magistrates
,
and
make
a
pride
out
of
what
they
,
worthy
gentlemen
,
meant
for
a
punishment
?
"
"
It
were
well
,
"
muttered
the
most
iron-visaged
of
the
old
dames
,
"
if
we
stripped
Madame
Hester
's
rich
gown
off
her
dainty
shoulders
;
and
as
for
the
red
letter
which
she
hath
stitched
so
curiously
,
I
'll
bestow
a
rag
of
mine
own
rheumatic
flannel
to
make
a
fitter
one
!
"
"
Oh
,
peace
,
neighbours
--
peace
!
"
whispered
their
youngest
companion
;
"
do
not
let
her
hear
you
!
Not
a
stitch
in
that
embroidered
letter
but
she
has
felt
it
in
her
heart
.
"
The
grim
beadle
now
made
a
gesture
with
his
staff
.
"
Make
way
,
good
people
--
make
way
,
in
the
King
's
name
!
"
cried
he
.
"
Open
a
passage
;
and
I
promise
ye
,
Mistress
Prynne
shall
be
set
where
man
,
woman
,
and
child
may
have
a
fair
sight
of
her
brave
apparel
from
this
time
till
an
hour
past
meridian
.
A
blessing
on
the
righteous
colony
of
the
Massachusetts
,
where
iniquity
is
dragged
out
into
the
sunshine
!
Come
along
,
Madame
Hester
,
and
show
your
scarlet
letter
in
the
market-place
!
"
A
lane
was
forthwith
opened
through
the
crowd
of
spectators
.
Preceded
by
the
beadle
,
and
attended
by
an
irregular
procession
of
stern-browed
men
and
unkindly
visaged
women
,
Hester
Prynne
set
forth
towards
the
place
appointed
for
her
punishment
.
A
crowd
of
eager
and
curious
schoolboys
,
understanding
little
of
the
matter
in
hand
,
except
that
it
gave
them
a
half-holiday
,
ran
before
her
progress
,
turning
their
heads
continually
to
stare
into
her
face
and
at
the
winking
baby
in
her
arms
,
and
at
the
ignominious
letter
on
her
breast
.
It
was
no
great
distance
,
in
those
days
,
from
the
prison
door
to
the
market-place
.
Measured
by
the
prisoner
's
experience
,
however
,
it
might
be
reckoned
a
journey
of
some
length
;
for
haughty
as
her
demeanour
was
,
she
perchance
underwent
an
agony
from
every
footstep
of
those
that
thronged
to
see
her
,
as
if
her
heart
had
been
flung
into
the
street
for
them
all
to
spurn
and
trample
upon
.
In
our
nature
,
however
,
there
is
a
provision
,
alike
marvellous
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
.
With
almost
a
serene
deportment
,
therefore
,
Hester
Prynne
passed
through
this
portion
of
her
ordeal
,
and
came
to
a
sort
of
scaffold
,
at
the
western
extremity
of
the
market-place
.
It
stood
nearly
beneath
the
eaves
of
Boston
's
earliest
church
,
and
appeared
to
be
a
fixture
there
.
In
fact
,
this
scaffold
constituted
a
portion
of
a
penal
machine
,
which
now
,
for
two
or
three
generations
past
,
has
been
merely
historical
and
traditionary
among
us
,
but
was
held
,
in
the
old
time
,
to
be
as
effectual
an
agent
,
in
the
promotion
of
good
citizenship
,
as
ever
was
the
guillotine
among
the
terrorists
of
France
.
It
was
,
in
short
,
the
platform
of
the
pillory
;
and
above
it
rose
the
framework
of
that
instrument
of
discipline
,
so
fashioned
as
to
confine
the
human
head
in
its
tight
grasp
,
and
thus
hold
it
up
to
the
public
gaze
.
The
very
ideal
of
ignominy
was
embodied
and
made
manifest
in
this
contrivance
of
wood
and
iron
.
There
can
be
no
outrage
,
methinks
,
against
our
common
nature
--
whatever
be
the
delinquencies
of
the
individual
--
no
outrage
more
flagrant
than
to
forbid
the
culprit
to
hide
his
face
for
shame
;
as
it
was
the
essence
of
this
punishment
to
do
.
In
Hester
Prynne
's
instance
,
however
,
as
not
unfrequently
in
other
cases
,
her
sentence
bore
that
she
should
stand
a
certain
time
upon
the
platform
,
but
without
undergoing
that
gripe
about
the
neck
and
confinement
of
the
head
,
the
proneness
to
which
was
the
most
devilish
characteristic
of
this
ugly
engine
.
Knowing
well
her
part
,
she
ascended
a
flight
of
wooden
steps
,
and
was
thus
displayed
to
the
surrounding
multitude
,
at
about
the
height
of
a
man
's
shoulders
above
the
street
.
