In the novel The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne, the main character, suffers the punishment of public humiliation because she had committed the sin of adultery. While Hester is very different from the average modern-day woman, she also has some of the same qualities. Hester's comparisons and dissimilarities to the average modern-era woman are a direct result of the differences between the stringent Puritan society of the seventeenth century and the typical society of the twenty-first century.

Throughout the novel, Hawthorne makes certain distinctions about Hester's personality traits, which include many that are similar to traits the women of today possess. Hester demonstrates that she is very proud and has strong character, which is portrayed in each of the scaffold scenes. Twenty-first century American women cannot help but show pride in the accomplishments they make today as a result of their forceful character. Most women throughout...