How does the society, place, and time in the setting of the story affect Hester's fate in The Scarlet Letter?Determinism suggests that one's faith...

Because the Puritan community of Hawthorne's The
Scarlet Letter labels Hester as an adultress and places her outside the
circle of the other members, Hester's nature is certainly altered as witnessed by her
dulled appearance. The effect of wearing the mark of a sinner causes Hester to undergo
changes to her physical appearance partly because of the "studied austerity of her
dress," but also because there is no longer "anything in Hester's face for Love to dwell
upon," no passion, no affection.  The tenderness in Hester's appearance has been removed
by the strict punishment she suffers.

Yet, as Hawthorne
states in Chapter XIII, "the scarlet letter had not done its office"; for, while Hester
has lost the passion which earlier drives her nature, now she has turned in her
loneliness to the world of thought.  Alone and isolated, Hester now assumes "a freedom
of speculation" while at the same time conforming to the external regulations of her
society.  As a much more modern thinker, Hester ponders the dark question of the "whole
race of womanhood" as she acknowledges that the whole of society must change before
women have a fair and appropriate position.  Doubt gains some control over Hester,and
she contemplates the futility of her life. 

On the other
hand, the stalwart Hester retains some of "the ethereal essence wherein she has her
truest life."  For, she comforts the ill, consoles those who have lost loved ones, and
her letter is interpreted as meaning Able or Angel.  
Thus, rather than have a sign upon her breast that she is a sinner, Hester is
marked with an A that now signifies her
charity. 

Although the scarlet letter has not done its
office, it does have a lasting effect upon Hester Prynne, who becomes contemplative,
believes that if she has atoned for her sin, the letter would fall of its own.  So, she
returns from England to her humble cottage, bends, and retrieves the scarlet A in order
to resume the only life she seems determined to know, but at the same time she has
gained some independence, but no redemption.