The main characters each had to face their wrongdoing in the light or dark. Roger Chillingworth, Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale and Pearl Prynne come full circle with the birth and death of the figures. The actions of the sinners put a shadow on the lives of those around them. All view their effrontery in different ways, some thought they had the right to sin and shame other. Sin was the major topic of Nathaniel Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter. .
Hester sin of adultery was the focus of this novel. With out her husband, whom she the thought died, she committed adultery. Refusing to give up his name as Pearl's father, wanting her to "never know [her] earthly one," only her "heavenly Father" show her determination to stay faithful and loyal to Dimmesdale (Hawthorne 63). A woman full of motherly love that she showers on her daughter, her love and concerns for her product makes her wonder if her offspring abnormal. She worries about her lack of self-control and her shunning playmates. Her appeal to the Governor and to her ex-lover that "God gave [her] the child" for her "happiness" and her "torture," in which for them to allow her to keep the elf child, shows the importance of the daughter in her life (104). As a woman with excellent values and noble qualities, when she walks to the scaffold, she holds her head high and sheds no tears. Self-inflicted plainness her only adornment "an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, the letter A" (48) Her life of seclusion shows her determination to seek repentance for her sin. Not a vengeful person, she never tries to make the reverend guilty for not stepping up to as the father of her child. Neither does she harbor malice towards Chillingworth, whom she considers responsible for her vilification. .
Her life was an example for the other sinner around her, "she felt an eye [her] upon ignominious brand"(79). Thinking that she has not "sinned alone," she knows that other feels the shame that she feels.