The character of Hester Prynne changed significantly throughout the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hester Prynne, through the eyes of the Puritans, is an extreme sinner. She has gone against the Puritan ways, committing adultery. For this harsh sin, she must wear a symbol of shame for the rest of her natural life. Hester "was tall, with a figure of perfect elegance. she had dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off sunshine with a gleam" (46). Her face was "beautiful from regularity of feature and richness of complexion" (46). She is a beautiful, young woman who has sinned, but is forgiven. Hawthorne describes Hester as "divine maternity" (49) and she can do no wrong. Not only Hester, but the physical scarlet letter, a Puritanical sign of disownment, is shown through the author's tone and diction as a beautiful, gold and colorful piece. .
From the beginning, we see that Hester is a young and beautiful woman who has brought a child into the world with an unknown father. She is punished by Puritan society by wearing the scarlet letter "A" on the bosom of her dress and standing on the scaffold for three hours. The scaffold is an unpleasant punishment to bear; the townspeople gathered around to gossip and stare at Hester and her newborn child, Pearl, named because of her extreme value to her mother. In the middle of the faces in the crowd, Hester sees the face of a man she once was familiar with, whom we later learn is her true husband, Roger Chillingworth. "It was sufficiently evident to Hester Prynne that one of the man's shoulders rose higher than the other" (53). Her vulnerability to the crowd of Puritan observers is challenging, and Hester holds the child to her heart, a symbolic comparison between the child and the scarlet letter, suggesting that they are both connected. .
Hester is imprisoned with her child. Roger Chillingworth, her husband, passes by and is commissioned to be the physician to the two, and cure them of their sicknesses.