Read the following summary: in the scarlet letter, hester prynne is a puritan woman who is publicly shamed for having a child out of wedlock. she bears the daily scorn without revealing the identity of her child's father. meanwhile, the town's young minister begins showing increasing outward signs of distress. when hester's husband, assumed to be lost at sea, returns to town under an assumed identity, he deduces that the minister is indeed the father and sets about plotting his revenge. which theme statement best matches the summary? a. revenge can be sweet, but forgiveness is sweeter. b. when we hide from our problems, they eventually catch up to us. c. hidden sin is less destructive than that which is exposed. d. in a world of turmoil, lasting peace can be found in spirituality.

Option B. When we hide from our problems, they eventually catch up to us.

Explanation:

The fact that Hester decided to hide the identity of her out-of-wedlock child's father caused the latter to later return under a concealed identity to make an assumption that would cause him to fall in a desire for revenge.

Had Hester made the identity of her child's father public would have caused the father to eventually find, by the spreading voice of the people, that he is in fact a parent, and wouldn't have had reason to believe otherwise -- ending up seeking another man's suffering.

This is proof that one's secrets can potentially come back in a harming fashion.

dramatic irony occurs when the reader/audience knows more about a character's situation than the character does. the one main effect is that it gives the reader a sense of superiority, or detached superiority. the reader not only seemingly discovers what is revealed, but feels superior for doing so.

a. the man as a ruler