Everyone has a conscience, or "the moral sense which determines right or wrong" (Webster's, 273). If someone does something that is morally wrong, then it is left on his or her conscience and they begin to feel guilty for the wrong they have done. If they feel guilt, then they suffer greatly throughout their lives, from lots of small indiscretions or just one large one. The majority of the people in this world can alleviate their guilt by confessing the sin or punishing themselves, but for some that is not enough. Nothing they do can erase the feeling of guilt and the knowledge that they did something wrong. The people who do manage to drop their guilt and clear their conscience become productive members of society because they have reconnected with the rest of the human race. In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the decision of the characters to either admit or hide the truth determines the quality of their lives. While Hester Prynne admits her sins and resolves them over time through her charity work, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale bottles up his sins and his guilty conscience destroys his life.
The first character to choose a path is Hester Prynne. When she had the child, and she had not seen her husband in over a year, she could have fled Boston before the birth. But, if she fled, then she would have a guilty conscience the rest of her life. She instead stayed and faced her punishment, the scarlet letter "A", and in that way she relieved her guilt. Hester did not like all the Puritan ideals, but according to the Bible, she knew adultery was a sin against God. Only the tremendous courage she had, and the large sense of righteousness kept her from fleeing. She obviously believed that her repenting and punishment would be enough to gain her sanctity in the eyes of God, even though the Puritans held opposing beliefs. "The Scarlet Letter explicitly declares the impossibility of redemption for the sinner" (Morey, 24).
