Hester Prynne

Hester Prynne is the protagonist of Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter. She is convicted for the crime of adultery by her Puritan neighbors and is forced to wear a prominent scarlet "A" for the rest of her life.

Hester is sent to colonial America by her husband, later identified as Roger Chillingworth, because he has some business to attend to. After learning that he was shipwrecked, captured by Native Americans, and presumed dead, Hester looks to the local pastor, Arthur Dimmesdale, for comfort. Somewhere along their relationship, passion emerges, leading to the conception and birth of their child, Pearl.