In every generation, there are certain rules and etiquettes that play an important role in dictating the appropriate behavior of the times. An individual can choose to live their life according to this code of conduct and do quite well, or on the contrary live a life full of trials and difficulties due to their transgression. This is especially true for the early inhabitants of 17th-century colonial America, a period marked by religious zeal and harsh punishments meted out to the Puritans who settled the region. At that time, as is still the case today, violators of this societal morality were held up as examples and forced to suffer in order to serve as a warning to the rest of the population. This is the case in The Scarlet Letter where the protagonist Hester Prynne is ostracized by her conservative community after committing the then unforgivable sin of adultery. In his novel, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the twin themes of guilt and redemption to create trials that test his character Hester Prynne and, in doing so, transform her from a pitiful sinner to a symbol of strength. The first test Hester Prynne faces is given by the community magistrates whose punishment includes forcing Hester to become a spectacle by demanding that she appear in front of the entire town in an attempt to publicly shame her. The hope of those watching is to see a weak and submissive person, paralyzed by the weight of her sin, but instead Hester appears defiantly stoic. “Those who had known her before, and had expected to see her obscured and obscured by a disastrous cloud, were astonished, and even frightened, to perceive how her beauty shone and made a halo of woe and ignominy in which she was wrapped in. (51) Determination...... middle of paper ...... pillar of morality and righteousness within his community, in strength and becomes a source of support for him in his weakest moments . Finally, Hester's transformation from sinner to symbol of strength is realized after her return to Boston. “The women, more particularly, in the continually recurring trials of the injured, emaciated, wronged, misguided, or led astray by sinful passion…came to Hester's cottage, asking why they were so unhappy and what remedy! (234) Finally, towards the end of her life, Hester Prynne, although she was never completely able to cleanse herself of her sin, found a place in her community as a counselor to other women through his ability to understand their situation and serve as an example of unwavering strength in the face of suffering and difficulties. Works Cited Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Scarlet Letter.” New York: Bantam Books, 2003. Print