Fitting into society is an important modern value. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's work The Scarlet Letter the main character, Hester Prynne, is outcast from a puritan society and forced to wear a scarlet "A" on her chest. This punishment is intended to imprison Hester in cage of criticism and general bad feeling from the townspeople. Although this is accomplished for a short time, because of Hester's strength the scarlet letter she wears makes her more independent and eventually just as liked as the average person who shunned her in the first place, making her punishment very ironic. .
Hester's personal strength allows her to reverse the intended punishment of the scarlet letter. As Dimmesdale remarks about Hester in the first scaffold scene "Wondrous strength and generosity of a woman's heart! She will not speak!" (69). Hester proves she has strength enough to keep silent about the identity of her lover and does throughout the entire novel. Also as Hester wishes to meet Dimmesdale in the woods she comes to the conclusion nothing will stop her. "Hester Prynne remained constant in her resolve at whatever risk of present pain or ulterior consequences." (191). Hester's strength in this case allows her to do something she has absolutely set her mind to and does. Much like her resolution to not let the scarlet letter she must wear change her life, which she also accomplishes, to a degree. Her life changed in some ways, but the letter gives her newfound independence to keep her life normal. .
The scarlet letter Hester is forced to wear allows her to be more independent over time. As Hester receives her punishment she is forced to move to the outskirts of town, away from society. There she reflects on her new life and comes away a more independent person. "Standing alone in the world, -alone to any dependence of society she cast away the fragments of a broken chain." (170). Hester's actually physical removal from society, like her moving to her new home and the scarlet letter she must wear, remove her mindset from one that must act in a society.
