In The Scarlet Letter what is left out of Hawthorne's account, and how does this affect the conclusions he is able to draw?

Letting the
eyes follow along the course of the stream, they could catch the reflected light from
its water, at some short distance within the forest, but soon lost all traces of it amid
the bewilderment of tree-trunks and underbrush, and here and there a huge rock, covered
over with grey lichens. All these giant trees and boulders of granite seemed intent on
making a mystery of the course of this small brook; fearing, perhaps, that, with its
never-ceasing loquacity, it should whisper tales out of the heart of the old forest
whence it flowed, or mirror its revelations on the smooth surface of a
pool.

This passage from
Chapter XVI of The Scarlet Letter reminds the reader of the
characteristic ambiguities of Hawthorne's narratives.  For, while Dimmesdale and Hester
"catch the reflected light" of good in their "good intentions" and love that has a
"consecration" of its own, there are yet blurrings of this good with the sins of their
lives. And, in the concluding chapter, this ambiguity yet exists, leaving the the
dogmatic Puritan code yet in grey, just as it is dressed in the opening chapter much
like the tombstone of Hester and Arthur Dimmesdale that is "so sombre is it, and
relieved only by one ever-glowing point of light gloomier than the
shadow...."

While Pearl is rendered human by her father's
confession of his sin, and Dimmesdale achieves a certain heroic success in his
revelation of his secret sin, Hester remains enshrouded in doubt, left to live out her
tragic existence as a grey figure who resumes the wearing of the scarlet letter, taking
up "her long-forsaken shame" and continuing her counsel and comfort to the "perplexed
and forlorn."

In the end, Hester Prynne still does not know
whether she has done right or wrong, for her "good intentions" have no bearing on the
inevitable penalty of which she cannot rid herself.  Even in death, Hester's soul
remains in ambiguity as she lies in the same grave with Dimmesdale, yet there is a space
between them, "as if the dust of the two sleepers had no right to mingle."  So, while
Hawthorne urges his readers to "Be true!  Be true!" but he cannot explain the mystery of
redemption.