In the beginning of the book Hester Prynne is publicly humiliated as a punishment for breaking a Puritan belief and one of the Ten Commandments; adultery. She is then forced to stand in front of the town for hours as the crowd tries to break her down with criticism and shaming words. After her release, "the scene was not without a mixture of awe, such as much always invest the spectacle of guilt and shame of a fellow creature" (63). They almost took a delight in her punishment, having thought they cleansed the town, and therefore only leaving a "pure" society. They thought that

"Such helpfulness was found in her-so much power to do and power to sympathized -that many people refused to interpret the scarlet "A" by its original signification. They said that it meant "Able": so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman's strength" (156).

Not only is Hester banished from the community and has to live extremely far from the rest of them, she is also alienated as well. Punished already by living outside her community, the people were still not satisfied with this punishment and chose to pass their negativity on to their offspring. "Thus the young and pure would be taught to look at her, with the scarlet letter flaming on her breast…as the figure, the body, the reality of sin" (83). The mothers of the children in the community would point her out and tell their children not to be like her. They would use her as an example of the consequences of being an individual and going against society's rules.

"Except for that small expenditure in the decoration of her infant, Hester bestowed all her superfluous means in charity, on wretches less miserable than herself, and who not unfrequently insulted the hand that fed them" (87).

Even the poor consider themselves better off than Hester. They may have been financially poor, but not morally. Hester had no obligation to feed the poor but she knew it was the right thing to do. As time goes on, Hester's good deeds finally go noticed by the community and life takes a turn for the better for her. They finally figured out that they could not crush her sprit, and found out that they really needed a person like that in their community.

Some topics in this essay:
Hester Prynne, Ten Commandments, Nathaniel Hawthorne, , hester prynne, scarlet letter, community community, society able, community realizes, person community, nathaniel hawthorne, sewing skills,