Because Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale committed adultery, they both went through appearance and personality changes. Through out the book (The Scarlet Letter) examples and reasons are given to prove that their changes did leave a message. .
Once the town had known Hester's sin, her personality, and appearance transformed dramatically. At first Hester's personality seemed very snobby. See seemed to turn her nose to every rule and rule maker. For example when she was on the scaffold for the first time and the ministers try to get her to say the name of her partner she replies, "I will not speak!" [pg. 47] Later, her red badge gives her pride and knowledge of her surroundings and of herself. She also was kind hearted and caring to those in need (like the poor she made clothes for). Hester's personality change was a change for the good. Instead of having her eyes glued to the floor, she kept her head high in spite of what everyone else thought of her. At the same time, Hester's appearance varies through out the story. In the beginning Hawthorne describes her as having "girlish beauty" [pg. 41] implying that she was in fact beautiful letting her hair go wild and her dresses represent her personality; colorful and fluent. However toward the ending of the book, she starts to dress a lot more casual. The Puritan influence on Hester resulted either in her keeping hair in a cap or cut short. Her dresses wouldn't be as beautiful as they were before she conformed to the community's traditional ho-hum look. Nevertheless her change contradicted her rebel out look. At the end, Hester shows that she is a willful woman and can carry herself in any situation. .
Although Arthur Dimmesdale reflects the image of a perfect person, he held a secret that changed his personality and appearance. In the beginning of the book Dimmesdale seems very serious. Over time he become more or less insecure and shy with the secret of Hester and his adultery eating away at him.
