As Hester Prynne stands in ignominy upon the scafford in
Chapter III of The Scarlet Letter, the vision of a man arrests her
attention. In fact, she is obviously agitated by the sight of him as she clutches her
baby to her bosom with so much force that the baby cries in
pain.
The arrival of her husband, who has been presumed
lost for years sends a presentiment, or sense of forebodying, through Hester, who
wonders why he has appeared. Hawthorne writes,
Very soon, however, his look became keen and
penetrative. A writhing horror twisted itself across his features, like a snake gliding
swiftly over them, and making one little pause, with all its wreathed intervolutions in
open sight. His face darkened with some powerful emotion, which, nevertheless, he so
instantaneously controlled by an effort of his will, that, save at a single moment, its
expression might have passed for
calmness.
When Hester looks
toward him, he gains control of his emotions and calmly lifts his finger and lays it
upon his lips. Then, he inquires of a townsman about the woman and how she came to be
upon the scaffold. After hearing Hester's history, Chillingworth tells the
stranger,
"Thus she will be a living sermon against sin,
until the ignominious letter be engraved upon her tombstone. But he will be known!--he
will be known!--he will be
known!"
As all this
transpires, Hester fixes her gaze upon her husband. She thinks that if she has to talk
with him on such a hot day, it will be "terrible."
Dreadful as it was, she was conscious of a
shelter in the presence of these thousand
witnesses.
Clearly, there is
a foreboding in Hester Prynne at the sight of her husband; she wonders what he will do
to her or to her child.
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