Hester Prynne is the person forced to bear the truth of her inappropriate actions in public, symbolized by the scarlet letter she wears on her chest, in The Scarlet Letter. This treatment of Puritan society changes her entire world, and isolates her from everyone, but how exactly does she view herself? Hester, having lived among a Puritan doctrine for so long, cannot help but be influenced by it, and although she did what she did out of love, she does see her act as a sin. She feels what she did was wrong, and so she tries to seek a sort of forgiveness, by engaging herself in many acts of charity. The ultimate evidence that she holds her deeds as unrighteous, not only at the beginning but throughout the book, is the fact that she finds the only solution for her and Dimmesdale to be together, is for them to run away from the truth. Through all these actions, it is clear that Hester judges herself as a sinner, but not out of her own opinion, but out of the opinion of Puritan society as a whole. She is penitent and rather submissive to the puritan society, showing that even though she does judge herself, she does it according to her dogma, not her heart.
             Hester does not try to hide from herself the fact that what she did was a wrongful act. She accepts that she has sinned and therefore she should be punished. This is clearly presented to the reader as a rather cognizant point, such as the sentence, "She knew that her deed had been evil; she could have no faith, therefore, that its result would be for good." (Hawthorne 83). Her sense of dogma, although not overpowering her sense of affection, did find a way to impede her from continuing with a clear consciousness. In her eyes, she is doing what she must to cleanse herself, and feeling like she should to respect Puritan believes. After all, in this statement she fears the result of her past actions, and it being under the control of the Puritans, it requires not a sharp state
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