Borne vs. Born

As I sat down to read tonight, a line on the very first page of chapter 5 caught my eye. A recycled line actually: "To-morrow would bring its own trial with it; so would the next day, and so would the next; each its own trial, and yet the very same that was now so unutterably grievous to be borne" (66). This line can also be found on page 49: "The unhappy culprit sustained herself as best a woman might, under the heavy weight of a thousand unrelenting eyes, all fastened upon her, and concentred on her bosom. It was almost intolerable to be born." 

While the first time this line appeared the play on words made me chuckle, its reappearance made me think a little deeper. Hawthorne is really drawing attention to this pun. In the sense he is using the word "borne" literally, it means "endured" as in the pain Hester is experiencing is too much to be borne. However, could this word be used on purpose? If you substitute "born" as in the birthing of a baby as the meaning of this word, the sentence almost makes more sense    it is so unutterably grievous to be born.

In Puritan society, there is something called the Social Covenant. Essentially each Puritan has to creep on his neighbors and hold their fellow Puritans accountable for their sins. While this seems super caring and not at all obnoxious, of course people take it as an excuse to justify getting up in other peoples business. So in poor Hester's case, religiously it is the community's job to shame her for what she has done. And they certainly do that. 

All of chapter 5 and the majority of the other chapters are composed of Hester being upset how this ordeal has ruined her life because everyone judges and hates her now. She ruminates on how her reputation is ruined forever, and there's no fixing it. So with that in mind, maybe it is intolerable to be born. It's kind of a lose-lose situation to live both in a society where you are not permitted to make a single mistake and in a life where mistakes are inevitable. Maybe it's best to just not be born(e)?