A Forest Walk
From page 161...
"How he haunts this forest, and carries a book with him a big, heavy book, with iron clasps; and how this ugly Black Man offers his book and an iron pen to everybody that meets him here among the trees; and they are to write their names with their own blood; and then he sets his mark on their bosoms. Didst thou ever meet the Black Man, mother?"
This reinforces the idea that when Chillingworth and Hester made a deal for secrecy, that Hester was selling her soul to the devil. The devil would be Roger. He is the Black Man in the forest, also, in the dark. If Hester wrote her name in her own blood, then she sold her soul. If he had to then leave a mark, then the scarlet letter was given by Chillingworth. Chillingworth has the soul, and Hester has the letter.
If Hester admits her true sin, marrying without love, then what society thinks the 'A' represents, adultery, would be void. If the letter was void, Chillingworth would have to return the soul. Then Hester and Chillingworth would be human again.
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