Chapter 3 of the Scarlet Letter is titled "The Reveal" and
it is a very important moment in the story of Hester
Prynne.
In this chapter we are taken back to when Hester
Prynne had just been sentenced and placed for 3 hours of public humilliation at the
scaffold.
We also know that her child is around 8 or 9
months old and that she is also on the scaffolding with her mother receiving the hisses
and insults from the people of the settlement.
The most
important part of this chapter, however, is that a certain man from out of town, a
stranger, is looking closely at Hester while he is being told by one of the people of
the town what Hester did and that she was punished to wear a scarlet letter A for the
remainder of her natural life. This strange man asked if anyone knows who is the father
of Hester's child, to which the townsman replies that Hester will not
tell.
We know here that the stranger has also gotten the
attention of Hester, who is terrified at him more than she is of the crowd, the
Governor, or the pastor (Dimmesdale) who is questioning her in the
scaffolding.
We learn later that this strange man is her
presumed-dead husband whose new name is Robert Chillingworth and is in town ready to
destroy Hester and to find out who was the man who got her in that
condition.
Another important happening of this chapter is
that Hester outright refused to give out the name of the father of the child even at the
insistence of both Rev. Wilson and Rev. Dimmesdale. Although later on we know that it is
Dimmesdale whom she had the affair with, it is interesting to see how sheepishly he asks
her to reveal the name of the man who got her pregnant, even taking the risk of her
breaking down and revealing it. But to notice the solid character of Hester in resisting
we also get a glimpse of her passionate nature and we can foreshadow that she is a
fearless and dignified woman who was accused harshly.
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