Running head: THE SCARLET LETTER 1 THE SCARLET LETTER 2 The Scarlet Letter- Themes of Identity and Conformity The thesis needs to answer this question: What is Hawthorne’s ultimate message regarding conformity and individual identity? Please revise so that it will answer the above question. The Scarlet Letter which was authored by Nathaniel Hawthorne is considered as one of the premier true American novels which attempted to explore the Puritanical society’s complexities and in some way, early American society. The book basically discusses the Hester Prynne’s tribulations that happen to be the female lead, as well as, the Reverend Dimmesdale’s tribulations that had been featured as the main male lead. On the basis of their errors along with tribulations in addition to function of numerous symbols, a reader of the Scarlet Letter gets in the position of digging deeper within the underlying themes which ultimately bind the literary work under review together. Therefore, in respect to the interpretations of the numerous symbols like the Hester’s exterior scarlet letter that develops the individuality idea, Dimmesdale’s interior scarlet letter that develops the conformity idea, as well as, Pearl who signifies the light which illuminates the said characteristics, the identity versus society theme is developed so that one can comprehend that individuality is of great essence than giving in to the society’s ideals. It has been established that Hester’s scarlet letter actually had played a vital role in the development of the identity versus society theme. After the incidence whereby Hester is shamed before the public eyes and made to wear the humiliation badge considered as her adultery’s scarlet letter, she gets back to her life within the town’s outskirts. Nonetheless, no one who has forced her to reside within the Massachusetts Bay colony thus she could have deserted the town and commenced a new life within any other colony thereby removing the scarlet letter stigma. However, in accordance to the quote “Here, she said to herself, had been the scene of her guilt and here should be the scene of her earthly punishment"; it becomes outright that Hester is not ready to turn out as the person which the society had molded her to be (Baym, 2008). Hester, in spite of the resentment being felt for her within the society, she manages to find her own identity via her isolation. The isolation which she experiences as a result of isolation assists her in embracing who she truly is. However, Hester with the native activity, as well as, native courage in addition to for such a long period not only estranged but also outlawed from society, she definitely wandered, with no rule or guidance, within moral wilderness, as intricate, as vast, as well as, shadowy as a fo.