During the 17th century, Puritans believed that the Scriptures dictated every aspect of their lives. It was evident in the Puritan faith that their defiant actions and inner thoughts were to remain repressed. Puritans felt the need to resist their impulses because, by law, every desire they had was an example of a tug on the part of the devil. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathanial Hawthorne takes his character, Hester Prynne, who commits acts of infidelity, and turns her against the Puritan community. Although the scarlet “A” objectifies Hester's humanity and exposes the rigid Puritan society, it also liberates her as a result of her final transformation. The book reintroduces Hester Prynne to society after her time in prison. As a result, she remains isolated from the entire community due to her promiscuous actions. When she walks the scaffold, many of the city's elite crowd around to witness Hester's agony "from every step of those who crowded to see her" (Hawthorne 49). The citizens line up to protest Hester's release because it seems like an outrage and quite unusual for such behavior. She lives far away “on the outskirts of the city,” assuring people that “her relative remoteness places her outside the sphere of that social activity which already marks the habits of emigrants” (Hawthorne 76). Everywhere Hester goes, the community looks down on her because of what she represents in the eyes of her entire town. In Hester's “relation to society” – what little she has – “there was nothing to make her feel as if she belonged to it” (Hawthorne 79). In other words, Hester's attempt to find herself in others ends disastrously and she can't help but feel so alone. Hester's presence makes “those where she came... middle of paper... fiefdoms and princes. Since Hester never truly learns the lesson, “on a field, sable, the letter A, paste” (Hawthorne 247), and it will always be with her forever. Although Hester never fits the description of what a Puritan actually represents, she emerges and transforms into a respected young woman of society during her revolution. Even as Hester's humanity degrades due to her careless actions resisting Puritan society, the scarlet “A” transforms her rebellion. Hester creates her own symbol for herself rather than one that has always masked her. In writing the Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne emphasizes the importance of being a nonconformist. Evidently, through the character of Hester Prynne, self-awareness is the key to achieving happiness. Repressing the characteristics that define a human being ultimately means destroying his or her individuality.