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The novel deals with issues that relate to human nature – sin, guilt, hypocrisy, revenge and pride. Students of literature can therefore study the work in an effort to gain insight into human nature and to develop their own system of values. An understanding of the Christian world-view can aid them in this regard.

Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne shows the moral consequences of sin are being in outcast in society and punishing oneself. Hawthorne tells the reader the only ways for one to be redeemed is to help others or owning up to their own mistakes.

Dimmesdale was a man who had deeply sinned and it scarred his existence, something he wasn't able to recover from. The truth often times hurts, and sometimes never heals, but the ultimate sin had been committed and Dimmesdale chose the most worthy punishment, death.

She had a baby with man who is not her husband, and she will not reveal who that man is. Throughout The Scarlet Letter Hester represents social injustice just as the Salem Witch Trials in The Crucible do, and this injustice becomes accepted and leads to acceptance.

Sin not only isolates man from God, it also alienates him from his fellowmen. The characters in The Scarlet Letter all suffer isolation as a result of their sins, as Arlin Turner notes: Pearl was born an outcast and remains at war with her world until the expiation of the final confession scene.

The moral of The Scarlet Letter is that secret sin leads to guilt and pain. Hester is publicly punished, which causes her pain, but through this, she is strengthened and gains independence.

Dimmesdale's sin was unknown to the community, so he had to hold in the guilt and suffer knowing he committed a horrible crime. In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne elaborated that the moral consequences of sin like guilt and shame are redeemed once you confess your sin and move on.

A major problem in The Scarlet Letter results from the fact that all the major characters become isolated from their society or from the natural universe. All these characters experience an alienation from their society. Hester is isolated as a result of her sin.