Hester Prynne's life was difficult and unique, with many trying events .
and circumstances that changed her and separated her from the common .
people. Great rifts eventually formed between her and the community in .
which she lived. These differences could be put into two categories: the .
outward distinction, and the inward change. The outward distinction is .
easy to identify. It is Hester's adultery, and it is signified in the .
scarlet letter A and her daughter Pearl. The inward change is much more .
subtle and harder to express. It is the alteration in Hester's mind and .
soul that could be said to have originated from the day of her public .
shame. Outwardly she seemed to have repented and reformed, embracing the .
Puritan theology wholeheartedly, but in her mind and heart she was a .
different person and had turned away from the Puritans' way of life. Not .
only had she turned away from the Puritans, but she had turned away .
from God, too. This was shown in some of the things that she did. .
To first understand how Hester was separate from the society around .
her, one must understand the society itself. The Puritan way of life, .
which was supposed to be unique, was not really all that different from the .
societies found everywhere in Europe at that time. Probably the most .
distinctive thing about it was that, though elsewhere this was a big part .
of society, the Puritan life was based almost entirely upon religion. .
The Puritan life was almost entirely ruled by laws, being that one of .
their beliefs was that strict discipline was good for people. "He [the .
Puritan] thought God had left a rule in His word for discipline, and that .
aristocratical by elders, not monarchical by bishops, nor democratical .
by the people."1 These "laws" were from the Bible, and the leaders of .
the people though just barely not the official government, were the .
church leaders. The Scarlet Letter states, "a people amongst whom religion .
and law were almost identical, and in whose character both were .
