Hester Prynne acknowledges her guilt of adultery, but fails to let go of her past mistakes. When Hester decides to stay within the Puritan settlement it represents her inability to move on from her sin. As criminals draw back to their crime scene, Hester becomes consumed with her transgression and feels the need to bear her punishment of judgement. She refuses to let go of her wrongdoings and forgive herself because of the way the Puritan society views sin. When she has no intentions of leaving her past behind it shows that a, "chain that bound her here was of iron links, and galling to her inmost soul, but never could be broken," (67). When Hester Prynne is given the scarlet letter it becomes apart of her as she lets it define herself. The scarlet letter represents Hester's past sin and feeds as a constant reminder of her guilt. …show more content…
As Chillingworth encourages Hester to take off her symbol she refuses to forgive herself because she knows that her guilt stills follows her as long as the scarlet letter is on her. She believes if she were "worthy to be quit of it, it would fall away of its own nature, or be transformed into something that should speak a different purport," (139). When Hester cannot bear her sin any longer she decides to run away from her problems instead of solving them. As Hester meets in the wilderness with Dimmesdale she comes to believe that they can ignore their past and move on instead of acknowledging and seeking forgiveness with each other. She takes off her scarlet letter and believes that her burden of shame is gone. When in reality the sin will always come back to her. This comes true as her daughter Pearl, a constant reminder of the product of her sin, becomes upset because she knows her mom cannot throw away her guilt without dealing with