The Scarlet Letter 3: P72-91

I. Quotations
1. But sometimes [...] she felt an eye - a human eye - upon the ignominious brand, that seemed to give a momentary relief, as if half of her agony were shared. The next instant, back it all rushed again, with still a deeper throb of pain; for, in that brief interval, she had sinned anew. Had Hester sinned alone? (page 79)

• That "human eye", belongs to the mysterious guy whom committed adultery with Hester. From here, we can see that Hester is still deep in love with him; and him, thankfully, do have feelings for Hester. This is a poor couple that was being separated under the theocratic and merciless society at that time. The punishment had turn Hester into a timorous woman - she is even afraid of having certain so-called "inappropriate" feelings. She kept putting herself in the position of a sinner, a sinner who will never be forgiven and will never be redeemed. This reminds me John Proctor in the play, The Crusible. Proctor sees himself as a sinner that does not deserves redemption in the beginning of the play. Let's see how can Hester make her way to Heaven (a.k.a: be redeemed at last).
• Another point of this quote is that it brought up a question, "Had Hester sinned alone?". In my opinion, Hester is a victim of the deformed society at that time. It is definite that as the story goes on, more and more sinners will surface and the ugliness of society will be present to us as a whole.
  

2. She felt or fancied, then, that the scarlet letter had endowed her with a new sense. She shuddered to believe, yet could not help believing, that it gave her a sympathetic knowledge of the hidden sin in other hearts [...] a scarlet letter would blaze forth on many a bosom besides Hester Prynne's? (page 79-80)

• The scarlet letter is not only the name of the book, it is also the most important symbol in the story. Although the true meaning of this symbol is not yet cleared, the letter A is, for sure, affecting Hester. The scarlet letter had brought Hester into another sphere, which change her into an outsider of the community. She is now free from the bondage of those snarled relationships between townpeople and the corporate guilt they committed. Experiencing sneers and insults everyday, Hester saw the ugly side of human - everyone is pretending to be good, although they have sinned. The reason why they keep picking on Hester so harshly is because they want to make her the evilest, in order to make themselves to feel a little less evil.
  

II. Discussing Questions
1. Why does Hester think that New England is her "life-long home"?

2. What is the point of dressing her (Hester) baby so gorgeous?