The Scarlet Letter

How did Hester Prynne respond to the pleading of Mr. Wilson and Mr. Dimmesadale?

Ch. 3: The Recognition

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Both men plead with Hester to reveal the father of Pearl. Dimmesdale obviously is acting the part but inside his stomach is turning. Hester rebukes both men refusing to say anything.

Here is a quote of Hester refusing to speak,

"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!"

"Speak, woman!" said another voice, coldly and sternly, proceeding from the crowd about the scaffold, "Speak; and give your child a father!"

"I will not speak!" answered Hester, turning pale as death, but responding to this voice, which she too surely recognised. "And my child must seek a heavenly father; she shall never know an earthly one!"