Her sin even expressed natural humans" need for love. The women in the community condemn her for sewing the scarlet letter with such embellishment; because its beauty and luster seems to say to the world that she is proud of her sin rather than ashamed of herself. On the contrary, Hester accepts the sin and her scarlet letter as part of herself, in the same way she accepts Pearl. Pearl's birth also implies that treasure can sometimes become the end result of sin. Hawthorne makes it clear that Pearl's character is directly related to the sin that brought her into the world. She is a product of the young couples" adultery; an act of love, which was both a sin and a crime. .
Dimmesdale and Hester reflect on their mistake every day, ever since Hester's part of the crime had been discovered, and they try to resolve and overcome it. The Puritan leaders, such as the Governor, see mortal trials and tribulations as difficult obstacles on the pathway to heaven. Therefore they see sin as a threat to the well-being of the people and the community as a whole. When Hester sins, she gets shunned badly by her fellow Puritans. In this novel, Puritan society is inactive, and there is so much two-facedness and hypocrisy within the community, but Hester and Dimmesdale's sin shows that sin can lead to understanding other people and learning from mistakes. .
Hester shows bravery by openly showing that she still loves Dimmesdale, even though she knows that in doing so, she is sinning again. She is trying to get Dimmesdale to escape from the community of Puritans, because she believes they are brainwashed and they can't see life other than their Puritan ways. She also wants to go live somewhere else, because she thinks that they have already paid for their sins.
The decaying garden can also be a symbol of sin. Its need of care suggests that Bellingham isn't capable of handling the community and their troubles.
