In THE SCARLET LETTER (Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1850), Hester Prynne bears a child out of wedlock and is exiled from the life of her community in a small Puritan town in New England. The conspicuously bright A Hester is given to wear on her clothing is intended to serve as a visual reminder of her sin of adultery, and hence to shame her; however, as the book progresses Hester begins to identify with her marker: "The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not to tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers -- stern and wild ones -- and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss." The letter changes Hester, but not as intended. She grows to accept her pariah status stoically -- and more importantly, transforms her experiences of despair and loneliness into a gentle compassion toward others similarly suffering.