A quotation in the new biography of Nathaniel Hawthorne, by Brenda Wineapple states: "Hawthorne's daughter Rose "clipped her auburn hair and stored the left over tufts under a linen cap. Henceforth she dressed in an austere monkish gown. `I gave up the world,' she said, `as if I were dead.' She swore off men and earthly things." This quotation can be related to a main character in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. Hester Prynne, a sinner who goes through a similar transformation. Hester gives up "earthly things" and men. She also takes on a harsher, colder appearance and removes herself from her surrounding society emotionally, physically, and intellectually. Hester sets herself apart from her community. Hester develops an emotionless and mechanical lifestyle. This new way of life allows her to step back from Puritan society and examine the structure that the Puritans considered perfect. Although she does...