st always wear. In the end of the story Hester, after a long absence, returns to her little, isolated cottage: "Here had been her sin; here, her sorrow; and here was yet to be her penitence. She had returned, therefore, and resumed-the symbol" (TSL 271). Hester's life and soul had been so deeply inflicted with the pain that society furnished to her that she took it to the grave with her.
             Another character in which we see the impact of societal oppression is the Reverend Dimmesdale. He was the esteemed and well-loved minister of the people: " They deemed the young clergyman a miracle of holiness. They fancied him the mouthpiece of Heaven's messages of wisdom, and rebuke, and love. In their eyes, the very ground on which he trod was sanctified" (TSL 188). However, he hides a secret from them. He knows that if he openly admits to being Pearl's father, he may be put to death by the strict Puritan
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