'The idea of hell on earth was definitely in my head during both readings, all the beautiful aspects of the medieval church such as the paintings and music are gone to be replaced by cold cruelty. There is a sense in which I imagined scenes in the reformed church as in black and white and the previous church in colour.'

'When reading that someone else refused to wear the sack cloth I also think I would as I find it by far the most disturbing of the physical aspects of the punishment.'

'It reminded me of painful experiences of public humiliation at school and how we deal with them emotionally and intellectually. The bitchy neighbours passing comment in the story were like bullying classmates.'

'The story made me realise for the first time how situated within our bodies our emotions and experiences are. It is not something we really think about consciously today in our society or are particularly encouraged to explore.'