Quote #3

Towards the beginning of chapter 12 the minister went by himself to the scaffold where Hester Prynne stood for humiliation. Then a statement came along that paused my reading and made me think. It said "A mockery at which angels blushed and wept, while fiends rejoiced, with jeering laughter." This chapter is mainly speaking of the minister's behavior yet I couldn't help but think about how this quote relates to just about the whole story.

Although this quote was orginally speaking about the minister's wrong-doing and the mockery that took place as he stood on the scaffold, it explains Hester's whole situation. I understand how the angels would weep because Dimmesdale was a minister and he totally went against the church. In Hester's case, not only would the angels weep but so does Hester herself as well as Chillingworth. Also, while the fiends (which is any devil or demon) laugh, they're laughing because the minister went against the church. The townspeople can also represent the fiends as they stood there watching Hester up on the scaffold and ridiculed.

Throughout the rest of Hester's life, no one is going to look at her the same. Even those you don't know her personality at all will sit back and laugh that she's in this horrible situation. As she lives the rest of her life with this permanent stain of the scarlet letter the angels will weep as the fiends rejoice.