To the astonishment to her townspeople, Hester Prynne's beauty didn't diminish after being pilloried on the scaffold. On the contrary, she went through this ordeal with almost a serene deportment. Hester had never looked more elegant or more dignified before. It was the elaborate embroidery of the scarlet letter that made her radiant with sublime beauty. Though exquisite painfulness could still be sensed in her haughty smile, the woman seemed to get great inner strength …showed first 75 words of 2134 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2134 total…two long, her face was rather unrecognizable. According to those villagers, when they found her, the girl still held a piece of scarlet fabric in her hand. Dimmesdale was sinking fast daily. He never mentioned his story to anybody; even his wife didn't know anything about Pearl or her mother. Sometimes, he stayed up the whole night praying to God. Two years later, he died while performing his regular fast and vigil in his study.