What are a few truths revealed in The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

Heralded by many as the greatest of distincly American
novels, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is not only a
portrait of the American Puritan experience, it is also a psychological study of the
effects of sin and guilt and redemption as well as a depiction of human nature, in
general.  Tormented by the "sins of the fathers," especially the memory of his uncle's
having been a judge during the Salem Witchcraft Trials, Hawthorne wrote a novel that is,
in effect, an examination of the cause of such a debacle of Puritanical
sanctimony.

• The hypcrosy of the
  Puritans is a recurring motif in this novel.  Subjugated to imprisoning
  sin within their hearts, the Puritans become hypocritical and thus, tortured by their
  existence that becomes a lie.  For instance, Roger Chillingworth darkens much like the
  sinister plant that Pearl identifies with him, and he becomes fiend-like, bent, and
  decaying.  Likewise, the Reverend Dimmesdale is also psychologically tortured.  In this
  mental torment, the minister seeks relief by, ironically, tormenting his physical body
  with self-flagellation.  So tortured is he by his secret sin that his body manifests his
  guilt with the stigmata of the scarlet A upon his chest.  Also,
  Little Pearl, a symbol of Hester's and Arthur Dimmesdale's sins only becomes human on
  the scaffold with her kiss of recognition to the now admitted sinner, her father, who
  holds the hand of her mother, also an admitted sinner, whose wearing of the scarlet
  letter, ironically, effects Hester's redemption.  Thus, it is the admission of sin that
  redeems people, Hawthorne contends, not the hiding.  His statement of theme and final
  exhoration of the novel is contained in the narrator's address to the reader: "Be true!
  Be true!"


• The isolation of man from others
  is an unnatural state that has devastating effects.  While Hester is
  ostracized from others, she is alienated and very discontent and unsatisfied.  Her
  beauty fades, the beauties of Nature eschew her as the sunshine dances only upon Pearl,
  although Pearl herself is isolated from other children.  As people begin to reinterpret
  the symbolic A as representative of "Able" or "Angel," Hester is,
  then, re-humanized and strengthened in
  spirit.


• There is a need for change and
  transformation  In "The Custom House," Hawthorne reflects upon his
  position as Customs Officer and the changing times. He remarks that the wharves of Salem
  have been left "to crumble to ruin" and that the port "exhibits few or no symptoms of
  commercial life." In addition, the pavement around the Custom-House "has grass enough
  growing in its chinks to show that it has not, of late days, been worn by any
  multitudinous resort of business."  With revolutions sweeping Europe, Hawthorne felt,
  perhaps, that there would be changes in store for New England. In Chapter 13, Hester
  ponders the role of women; she concludes that it is "a hopeless task" for "the whole
  race of womanhood" to gain independence if they do not abandon the priorities of the
  heart. In order to receive any recognition, there must be a reform of society if there
  are to be "mightier reforms."