In times where adultery was one of the biggest sins Hester Prynne overcame some of the worst hurdles imagine to later become one of the most promising women, in the New England colony. Hester’s tribulations also lead her to be stoic and a freethinker. In the novel the Scarlet Letter, author Nathaniel Hawthorne demonstrates how all the experiences she encountered changes her from the beginning to the end of the novel.

In the beginning of the Scarlet Letter Hester Prynne is punished publicly for the sin she has committed with Arthur Dimmesdale. In the puritan society they already know sins and the colonist are quick to create a prison and a cemetery for those who choose to go against the belief. Although Hester had committed a sin she acts as if nothing is wrong about going to prison as she “stepped into the open air, as if by her own free will” (Hawthorne 50). Hester refused to let the situation bring her down as she never “appeared more lady-like in the antique interperation of the term, than as she issued from the prison” (Hawthorne 50). Everyone who knew her “[was] astonished, and even startled, to perceive how her beauty shone out, and made a halo of the misfortune and ignominy in which she was enveloped” (Hawthorne 51).


Shortly after her punishment starts, Hester offers to help people in need by sewing clothing and helping them out in various ways. After a while of torture from the letter and from Pearl, Hester begins to get comfortable with her punishment, and it no longer had the affect it once had on her. Since much helpfulness was found in her “many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification” (Hawthorne 146). Also many people couldn’t believe her strength so “they said that it meant able; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman’s strength” (Hawthorne 146). The only thing that could contain her was the darkened house and “when the sunshine came again, she was not there” (Hawthorne 146).
At this point in the novel is seems as though Hester has learned her lessons and changed her ways. Some people even believe that the punishment is significant and that she should no longer have to wear the scarlet letter upon her bosom. As the story continues, it is obvious that “the scarlet letter had not done its office” (Hawthorne 150). The letter and the punishment were to teach Hester to not sin, and yet she lies to Pearl about the meaning of the letter by telling her “It is for the same reason that the minister keeps his hand over his heart!” (Hawthorne 161). It was extremely odd that Hester told a lie about the letter because “in all the seven bygone years, Hester Prynne had never before been false to the symbol on her bosom” (Hawthorne 163).

In the novel the Scarlet Letter, author Nathaniel Hawthorne demonstrates how all the experiences she encountered changes her from the beginning to the end of the novel. Although Hester has changed in some ways she also stayed the same in others, the change that was supposed to be brought by the scarlet letter never occurred. In the end, Hester was still planning to commit adultery once again.