The Scarlet Letter 2

"'She will not speak!... Wondrous strength and generosity of a woman's hear! She will not speak!'" (64).

Mr. Dimmesdale says this, thinking that Hester just wants to keep the man out of trouble. But I wonder if that is true? It is obviously possible that Hester loves the man she slept with, but she does not seem to be that sort of person, at least at the moment. She seems cold, twice squeezing her baby so hard it cried, and even saying to her husband, "though knowest that I was frank with thee. I felt no love, nor feigned any" (69). She seems hard to get through, which is also shown in her confidence in her walk to the scaffold that caused the gossips to whisper bitterly. If she is in love with the man, she seems to be taking the rejection very well, although three months have passed, and there may have been enough time to get over it.


"'Believe me, Hester, there are few things... hidden from the man who devotes himself earnestly and unreservedly to the solution of a mystery. Thou mayest cover up thy secret from the prying magnitude. Thou mayest conceal it, too, from the ministers and magistrates, even as thou didst this day, when they sought to wrench the name out of thy heart, and give thee a partner on thy pedestal. But, as for me, I come to the inquest with other senses than they possess'" (70).

Roger is saying that he will find the man because he is more adequate for finding out a person's secrets. This is important because he later says, "'let him hide himself'" (71) because Roger does not want other people to know who the man is. It will suffice for Roger just to know who the man who impregnated his wife is. Roger is not a social man; he is more quiet and reserved, and so he does not want to spread the word to people, because he does not seem to really like people. If he just knows who it is, he will be happy. This will end his questions and calm him.