the end of the scarlet letter

I’ve stepped through a book portal and transported myself into The Scarlet Letter, back to Boston in the mid-1600s. I’m looking for a certain Hester Prynne. Maybe you’ve heard of her? She was apparently an evil sinner turned motherly angel. She passed on not too long ago, and I hear her tombstone has an eerie inscription that no one can seem to figure out. Ah, here it is! The epitaph reads, “On a field, sable, the letter A, gules” (259). Well, let’s decode the words first. Field refers to background, sable means black, and gules connotes a reddish tinge. So this literally says, “On a black background, the red letter A.” Looking at it from the Puritans’ viewpoint, the black background represents Hester’s sin-stained heart, with the glowing symbol of her adultery burned into it with the very fire of Hell. From Hester’s—and Hawthorne’s—perspective, the blackness indicates the Puritan society’s hypocrisy and judgmental attitude. The letter A would then symbolize Hester herself, its red glow serving as a reminder of all that she was able to overcome, and her success at turning her deed from a mark of shame and dishonor to one of dignity and pride. Make sense?

Now let’s zoom out, and take a look at the surroundings. It looks like Hester’s burial site is between the prison and King’s Chapel. Very interesting. The prison was actually the place where Hester was first humiliated, forced to reveal her sin before the entire town. It was here where her path of penance began, the starting point of a seven-year-long journey full of sorrow and loneliness. During this journey, however, Hester’s steadfastness and ability to stay true to herself changed her from society’s object of scorn to society’s refuge. Her presence by the prison door stands as a symbol of comfort, compassion, empathy, and hope to incoming prisoners. Her spirit smiles upon them and says, “Don’t despair! Embrace your identity, accept your mistakes, stay strong—and the world will come to respect you for it.” It might also turn to the influx of churchgoers standing at the door of the chapel, frown slightly, and call out, “O hypocritical people! Do not be deluded by your flawless beauty and unblemished clothing. Deep within, you all harbor a secret, a sin. Accept the fallibility of human nature; you are not perfect.”

And see here, Hester’s grave is next to Dimmesdale’s, her lover. But it’s not quite next to—they’ve left considerable space between the two, “as if the dust of the two sleepers had no right to mingle” (258). Perhaps Dimmesdale was right in questioning whether he and Hester would be joined in the afterlife. But, you see, although they’re buried a few feet apart, they do share the same tombstone. In life, they were constantly separated, but in death, they lie under the same scarlet letter. And perhaps, by burying Hester next to Dimmesdale, the community is implying that they have moved on, and in many ways, forgiven them for their sin. They, too, agree that the legend of their love lives on.