"I pray you, good Sir," said he, "who is this woman? --and wherefore is she here set up to public shame?"
"You must needs be a stranger in this region, friend," answered the townsman, looking curiously at the questioner and his savage companion, "else you would surely have heard of Mistress Hester Prynne and her evil doings. She hath raised a great scandal, I promise you, in godly Master Dimmesdale's church. "
This quote is the 5th and 6th paragraph of chapter 3. This shows just how much the Puritan society looked down on adulterers. The townsman refers to adultery as a "great scandal" and "evil doings" and is surprised that the newcomer had not known about the event beforehand. This is a kind of foreshadowing of the attitude that many of the people will have towards Hester for her sinful acts.
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