Puritans believed that God would forgive any person for their sins, not matter what the sin was, yet many of the townspeople (mostly the women) would show no mercy for Hester. In the book right before Hester is released from prison, the townspeople gather and wait for the prison door to swing open. They anticipate the look on her shameful face.
"'Goodwives,' said a hard-featured dame of fifty, 'I’ll tell ye a piece of my mind. It would be greatly for the public behoof if we women, being of mature age and church-members in good repute, should have the handling of such malefactresses as this Hester Prynne. What think ye, gossips? If the hussy stood up for judgment before us five, that are now here in a knot together, would she come off with such a sentence as the worshipful magistrates have awarded? Marry, I trow not.'" (Hawthorne
It is clear that the townspeople did not welcome Hester back into town with open arms. Many of the women had made up their minds about Hester and what kind of person she was. They know Heseter to be an adulteress who should never be given a second chance. Once a sinner, always a sinner.
"'Goodwives,' said a hard-featured dame of fifty, 'I’ll tell ye a piece of my mind. It would be greatly for the public behoof if we women, being of mature age and church-members in good repute, should have the handling of such malefactresses as this Hester Prynne. What think ye, gossips? If the hussy stood up for judgment before us five, that are now here in a knot together, would she come off with such a sentence as the worshipful magistrates have awarded? Marry, I trow not.'" (
It is clear that the townspeople did not welcome Hester back into town with open arms. Many of the women had made up their minds about Hester and what kind of person she was. They know Heseter to be an adulteress who should never be given a second chance. Once a sinner, always a sinner.
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