To make a decision, you weigh the advantages and disadvantages and conclude by judging the factors of each alternative. The choice of whether to conform to society's demands or submit to personal impulses is difficult, especially in strenuous circumstances. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a deep love story in which the characters must make such a decision. A reconciliation between the two forces does not seem feasible. Self-dependence consumes Hester Prynne, while self-denial implicates her partner in the crime of adultery, the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. The roles of Hester's daughter, Pearl, and her ex-husband, Roger Chillingworth, as individual beings are less obvious than that of their impact on Hester and Dimmesdale's views towards society. Each character in the story must decide the importance of their own personal feelings over that of maintaining the standards of Puritan society. Hester Prynne lives in an idealistic Puritan town with "a people among whom religion and law [are] nearly identical" (ch. 2). It is evident, however, that Hester is an individual, not a product of the city. Even when condemned to wear an A on her chest for her crime, Hester creates a generously bold scarlet letter, which serves as physical evidence of the dominance her inner will has over conforming to Puritan ideals. Although the punishment causes her shame and suffering, it does not appear to bring her to any clear state of repentance, as she continues to live courageously in her sin and not give in to pressure. It is only in the presence of Puritan society that the weight of sin brings it down. Making her an outcast separates his obligations to her; she is a free…half of paper…false and unnatural relationship" (ch. 4). He is aware of his selfishness and impure affiliation, yet he takes revenge on Dimmesdale, who actually loves Hester. Existing with one extreme or the other, the characters in The Scarlet Letter must weigh the importance of maintaining society's standards against satisfying their own impulses. The pressures to conform to ideals are great; only Hester Prynne fully resists them she stands courageously in light of her sin, her cowardly lover Arthur Dimmesdale is not so strong, and it takes the intervention of Pearl and Roger Chillingworth - if they have the opposite impact - before she is finally able to publicly support her Sin Scarlet Letter overflows with passion, shame and redemption: a combination only achievable in a love story.