In the King's Chapel Burying Ground of Boston, a unique stone that may have inspired the Scarlet Letter still stands.
Elizabeth Pain passed away in 1704 at the age of 52. She was a settler living in Boston who had a child out of wedlock. The child passed away on March 6, 1692, and Pain was brought to trial for the child's murder. She wasn't convicted of the murder itself, but was punished for neglect and endured a flogging. Pain's stone is interesting not only because of the shield on the left-hand side. As you can see in the video, the lefthand shoulder of the stone appears to have been broken off, but this isn't damage sustained since the stone was placed. The carving on the shoulder is still visible, meaning that the carver worked with the stone despite its imperfections. The design is still visible on the damaged shoulder of the stone.
There are many that think Elizabeth herself was the inspiration for Hester Prynne, the main character of The Scarlet Letter, but it seems more likely that her stone is the main inspiration for Hester's stone:
"And, after many, many years, a new grave was delved, near an old and sunken one, in that burial ground beside which King's Chapel has since been built. It was near that old and sunken grave, yet with a space between, as if the dust of the two sleepers had no right to mingle. Yet one tombstone served for both. All around, there were monuments carved with armorial bearings; and on this simple slab of slate—as the curious investigator may still discern, and perplex himself with the purport—there appeared the semblance of an engraved escutcheon (shield or coat of arms)."
This description of Hester's headstone with the coat of arms closely matches Elizabeth's stone and is located in the same place. While it is true that there are similarities between Elizabeth and Hester, both of which became pregnant out of wedlock, but that's about as far as the evidence goes when it comes to Hester being inspired by Elizabeth.
Comments