Top 4 The Scarlet Letter quotes

  • “She shuddered to believe, yet could not help believing, that it gave her a sympathetic knowledge of the hidden sin in other hearts.”

    Hester Prynne, Chapter 5

    In this quote, Hester is referring to the Scarlet Letter that she wears on her dress. She begins to realize that the symbol she carries allowed her to gain a strange sense of sympathy with some people in the settlement. Hester concludes that most people in a society committed sins, even as they went about condemning others for the very same sins.

  • “This outward mutability indicated, and did not more than fairly express, the various properties of her inner life. Her nature appeared to possess depth, too, as well as variety; but— or else Hester’s fears deceived her—it lacked reference and adaptation to the world into which she was born. The child could not be made amenable to rules.”

    Hester Prynne, Chapter 6

    Pearl has a difficult childhood because of her mother’s past. She is raised by a single mother, without the company of other children. However, Pearl doesn’t quite seem to be affected by this seclusion and spends most of her time playing on her own. Hester notes this strange aloofness in her daughter and even wonders about her parentage, believing her to be descended from fairies or elves.

  • “Dimmesdale was often observed, on any alarm or other sudden accident, to put his hand over his heart with first a flush and then a paleness, indicative of pain.”

    The narrator, Chapter 9

    Dimmesdale is haunted by his sin and dishonesty. It is indicated that he derives most of his purpose in life through the public office that he holds. Yet, Dimmesdale is never able to free himself from the guilt of his sin, and from keeping it hidden. He has the curious habit of putting his hand over his heart during times of emotional distress, and we later learn that the very spot he covered had a similar symbol on his ski as the one Hester wore on her dress.

  • “In a word, old Roger Chillingworth was a striking evidence of man’s faculty of transforming himself into a devil, if he will only, for a reasonable space of time, undertake a devil’s office.”

    The narrator, Chapter 14

    Roger Chillingworth functions as the primary antagonist of the novel, and he plays the role fittingly. He is obsessed with punishing Dimmesdale for as long as humanly possible. He spends a great amount of care in administering to him since the priest’s condition is ever so fragile after Hester’s sentence. The people of the community begin to notice his malicious intents, and even circulate gossip that he is indeed the devil.