As Dimmesdale lays dying, Hester seems astonished that they shall not meet again (Hawthorne 173). It is as if she believes that the depth of their love has created a bond which should not be broken by life or death. Hester as a woman excluded from the community due to her sin cannot as easily allow its rules and values to be her own. As a clergyman, Dimmesdale has been invested in the community proper. This is a position of status and respectability which has been denied Hester from the start. Hawthorne al

HesterÆs triumph is that her virtue ultimately transcends that of her overly rigid community. She seeks ôno selfish ends, nor lived in any measure for her own profit and enjoymentö (Hawthorne 177). She has become an embodiment of what the Puritan ideal aspires to become. Hawthorne indicates that Hester began to adopt a postion of a seer for Hester foretold that a better time was approaching. A ônew turthö was to be revealed when a new ôwhole relation between man and womanö was to be established during a ôbrighter timeö (Hawthorne 177). Hawthorne indicates that this new relationship between men and women is more likely to be based upon ômutual satisfactionö than what the Puritans offered to their believers (Hawthorne 177). Hester indicates that once she vainly saw herself as the ôdestined prophetessö but that she came to see that the angel destined to lead