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Sin and Guilt Eats Away It’s hard to hide an illegitimate child in a small Puritan community. When Hester Prynne, the principle character in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter, a married woman whose husband was long away, gave birth to a daughter in her town of Cornhill, she was clearly identified as a sinner. As soon as her sin became public knowledge, she was punished for being an adulterer. And a story can get very interesting when the man you committed adultery with is the town minister. When a sin is committed there are two paths that can be taken; one is to admit and surmount to the guilt, and the other is to keep it a secret until they are consumed by the sin, but either way thy are still affected by penance or penitence. Hester Prynne’s punishment was a short period in jail, three hours of public humiliation on the scaffold, and the requirement of wearing a scarlet letter “A” on her chest for the rest of her life, serving as "a living sermon against sin” (Hawthorne 69). After confessing her sin and accepting the punishment, Hester was able to move on with life. She was able to bring up a strong and confident daughter. She was a talented seamstress and a devoted nurse with “so much power to do and