The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne was written when public punishment was common throughout Europe. People followed the Puritan religion which had many restrictions and people who broke the rule were liable to punishment and were put behind the bar or were executed. In The Scarlet Letter the character Hester Prynne is punished as an adulteress, which in modern society would seem to be a common mistake made for love. However, people of that era considered it a great crime and religious people believed it as a sin and were liable to punishment. The Scarlet Letter is fundamentally a story of sin, guilt and identity. It tells about the woman who broke the law of authority and even society. By mistake, Hester Prynne is forced to wear the letter “A” which represents the adulteress. The moral of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne would be Sin, Guilt and Identity as the story revolves around these three and Hester is punished for the same reason. According to the Puritan people of Massachusetts Hester Prynne committed a sin by having another person's child even though she was already married to someone else. Hester Prynne had been married to Roger Chillingworth before moving to Europe. However, after moving to Europe, she meets Dimmesdale and the result of the sin they commit is in the form of Pearl. (From chapter 6, The Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne) it is said that “Pearl was a born outcast of the childish world. A little devil of evil, emblem and product of a sin." The pearl representing a wise girl is a product of sin. The sin committed by Hester is known to people all over Massachusetts while the fellow sinner remains silent. (Fider,C,J) says that “While Hester's sin is v... in the center of the card... one feels guilty for what she has done and in the end she dies. Hester is also seen as a sinner for cheating on her husband and Chillingworth's sinner for seducing Hester's youth. The result of Dimmesdale and Hester comes in the form of Pearl. Hester's identity gradually changes in the story as she becomes a recognized person while Dimmesdale's identity is lost in the eyes of the people of MassachusettsWorks CitedAcklin,L., Hesterburg,C., Poulter,J. Themes/Moral. Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/site/thescarletletterforthebetter/themes-moralsFider,C,J. Northern Caribbean University, Jamaica, West Indies. Moral and ethical issues in the Scarlet Letter. Retrieved from http://ict.aiias.edu/vol_24/24cc_117-135.htmHawthorne,H. (1998). The Scarlet Letter. (Harding,B.ed).Great Britain.