The Scarlet Letter – The Evolution of Hester The novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne was an objective description of the life of Hester Prynne, an adulteress. The novel does not go into specific details of the woman's thoughts other than to describe her character's appearance. Throughout the novel he faces humiliation from other Bostonians, but never loses his sense of pride. Hester Prynne suffers greatly from the shame of her public disgrace and the isolation of her punishment; however, he retains his self-respect and survives punishment with dignity, grace, and ever-increasing strength of character. From the moment Hester Prynne is introduced into the plot of The Scarlet Letter in chapter 2, "The Market," the reader realizes how proud she is. As an adulteress, she is forced to endure the ignominy of her peers and is condemned to have the letter A tied to her heart. When he stands on the gallows as punishment for his sins, he never truly falters. She holds a three-month-old baby in her arms and tries to cover her mark with the baby. However, he realizes that the child symbolizes his sin as much as the letter, and decides that it is useless. For many years of her life, Hester was considered an outcast by the people of her town. These repercussions are also felt by his daughter Pearl, because she has no friends. They do not associate with others and there have been some cases of Puritan children throwing stones at the two. During this time, Hester refuses to make the name of her child's father public. Bearing the brunt of her punishment alone made her even stronger. As her life progressed, Hester became less of an outcast in the public eye. She was gifted at embroidery and was charitable towards those less fortunate than herself. (Although Hester was a talented seamstress, she did not earn as much money as she could because she was not allowed to sew wedding dresses. This was obviously because she had committed sins that should have been limited to the sanctity of marriage.) Seven years after being on the gallows as a criminal, people thought his letter meant "clever" as opposed to "adulteress." Some time later the public changed their opinion of her again and she was considered "an angel".".