The character of Hester Prynne changed significantly throughout the novel
             "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hester Prynne, through the eyes
             of the Puritans, is an extreme sinner; she has gone against the Puritan ways,
             committing adultery. For this irrevocably harsh sin, she must wear a symbol
             of shame for the rest of her life. However, the Romantic philosophies of
             Hawthorne put down the Puritanic beliefs. She is a beautiful, young woman who
             has sinned, but is forgiven. Hawthorne portrays Hester as "divine maternity"
             and she can do no wrong. Not only Hester, but the physical scarlet letter, a
             Puritanical sign of disownment, is shown through the author's tone and diction
             as a beautiful, gold and colorful piece.
             From the beginning, we see that Hester Prynne is a young and beautiful woman
             who has brought a child into the world with an unknown father. She is
             punished by Puritan society by wearing the scarlet letter A on the bosom of
             her dress and standing on the scaffold for three hours. Her hair is a glossy
             brown and her eyes deep-set, and black, her attire is rich, carefully
             caressing her slender figure. The scaffold is a painful task to bear; the
             townspeople gathered around to gossip and stare at Hester and her newborn
             child, whom she suitably named Pearl, named because of her extreme value to
             her mother. In the disorder of faces in the crowd, young Hester Prynne sees
             the face of a man she once was fiercely familiar with, whom we later learn is
             her true husband, Roger Chillingworth. Her subjection to the crowd of Puritan
             onlookers is excruciating to bear, and Hester holds the child to her heart, a
             symbolic comparison between the child and the scarlet letter, implying that
             Prynne is imprisoned with her child, both of whom are emotionally and
             physically exhausted from the punishment at the scaffold. The husband, Roger
             Chillingworth, passes by and is commis...