Hester Prynne is a young Englishwoman who was sent by her husband to Salem alone. She is punished because she has given birth to a daughter named Pearl, although her husband has been absent for two year. Hester is forced to carry her child and wear a scarlet letter “A” attached to her bodice and experience three hours of public humiliation as a sinful woman after her three-month imprisonment.
In my opinion, although Hester is said to be sinful, she is a positive character. When she is led to a scaffold where she is to be publicly condemned, she shrugs off the beadle’s hand on her shoulder, pauses a moment outside the door of the prison, and looks around at the townspeople. She resists the urge to cover the scarlet