Within this quote in Chapter 14, Hester inadvertently reveals that her spiritual condition is much stronger than before. When Chillingworth mentions that the town magistrates are considering allowing Hester to remove the letter, she becomes almost offended. The quote above is Hester’s way of saying that if her punishment were truly over and she had repented for her sins, God would simply allow the letter to fall off of her chest, or change it into a symbol conveying a different message. Hester has accepted the letter’s presence in her life, and one can draw a parallel between the threats of Pearl being taken from Hester earlier on in the novel to the idea of the letter being removed from her chest now. It was originally a burden placed on her
