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"I pray you, good Sir," said he, "who is this woman? - and wherefore is she here set up to public shame?"(57)

This quote is said by Hester's husband. He is merely inquiring of a stranger who Hester really was, yet, all along, he knew Hester more than everyone else did. His naivety relates to the theme of society's effect on the individual, as Hester's husband had to deny knowing her in order to maintain a level of secrecy about him. If anything, he should have been admitting that he was Hester's husband, as he was equally responsible for Hester's action by letting her alone for too long. Yet, there would be major repercussions for doing such an act in a Puritan society, as they will probably treat him with more scorn for being so secretive about such a boiling social woe. Also, admitting that he was Hester's husband would lead to her death, since the government would see that there was someone out there to care for her child.

Why should Hester's husband not have to bear his own sin?

"Never!" Replied Hester Prynne, looking, not at Mr. Wilson, but into the deep and troubled eyes of the younger clergyman. "It is too deeply branded. Ye cannot take it off. And would that I might endure his agony, as well as mine!"(64)

This quote also relates to the theme of society's effect on the individual. This quote comes in after someone in the crowd watching Hester tells her to find a father for her baby. Hester is quick to say never, since on the inside, she loves the one with which she had created her child, and could not imagine her child in someone else's care, not even in her husband's. Yet, the dilemma there is that if she were to reveal that the baby had a father figure already, this would only excite popular interest in finding our who this "mystery man" really is. If when she saw her husband, she suddenly blurted out that she saw him, the public would see him as a fitting caretaker for the child and would kill Hester as a result. Also, she literally says that her baby is a symbol of her sin, almost proudly. Hester bears her sin with pride, as can be seen with the elaborate "A" seal she wears, and only wants to share it with her counterpart in the act and put no one else through the agony of this sin.

Why might it not be a bad idea to announce that the baby has a potential caretaker?