"A pure hand needs no glove to cover it." -Chapter XII "The Minister’s Vigil"

This quote is spoken in The Scarlet Letter and i am having trouble interperting it. Is this quote relating to Hester and how she is not 'pure' because of commiting acts of adultery?

1 answer

Remember in previous chapters Hester made her living by embroidering fancy gloves for the rich, powerful, and wealthy. Including the minister, and the Governor.

A pure hand needs no glove to cover it.

Perhaps the rich, powerful, and wealthy in Hawthorne's view lack clean hands, it was the downtrodden (Hester) that had pure hands.