The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a great piece of literature. Explores societal problems that still occur today. It is fascinating to see how the Puritans punished adultery back then and the lack of punishment of adultery in our society today. It shows how all the characters influence Hester and what everyone does in the community. This shows that in that town no one is free from any type of crime. In Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, he analyzes the characters of Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Pearl. One of the main characters in The Scarlet Letter is Hester Prynne. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester is described as "a comely woman whose pride sustains her through her punishment and through all the years of her life" (Overview: Characters). She is tall, has dark hair, and her clothing showed the attitude of her spirit (Hawthorne 51). She has a husband, Roger Prynne, whom she did not love. Before she got married, she was a strong-willed and eager young woman. Her husband, Prynne, sent her to America and would arrive later. When he never made it to Boston, he thought he was lost at sea (SparkNotes). At the beginning of the book Prynne walks out of prison holding her daughter Pearl in her arms, with the scarlet letter "A" embroidered on her clothes (Hawthorne 51-52). She wears the scarlet letter as punishment and as a secret from her lover. Her husband is among the crowd and lives in Boston to take revenge on her lover (Sparknotes). Hester is accused of adultery. His conviction could be used for a much lesser crime (Korobkin). She is then kicked out of town and is forced to live on the outskirts of Boston in a small cottage (Hawthorne 62). Dimmesdale is the “judge” in Hester's case. When Governor Bellingh... center of paper... comes to Gale. Network. January 12, 2012.Milliman, Craig A. Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter." (Nathaniel Hawthorne)." The Explicator 53.2 (1995): 83+. Literary Resource Center. Network. March 15, 2012. Pimple, Kenneth D. "'Subtle Hypocrite, But Remorseful': Dimmesdale's Moral Character." Studies in the Novel 25.3 (Fall 1993): 257-271 of the Nineteenth Century. Ed. Jessica Bomarito and Russel Whitaker. Vol. 158. Detroit: Gale, 2006. Literature Resource Center. March 14, 2012. Pringle, Michael. ESQ: A Journal of the American Renaissance 53.1 (2007): 31-55 in Review of Children's Literature. Dan Ferguson. Vol. 163. Detroit: Gale. Literary Resources. January 12, 2012. SparkNotes. Web. February 1. 2012