How Hawthrone's characterization of Hester stresses emotion over reason (or not)

Hester is never quite penitent for her “crime,” if only because she cannot understand how her punishments could be so harsh. When Governor Bellingham orders Pearl to be taken away from her, Hester wonders whether a woman must die for following her heart, prompting Dimmesdale to intercede as a subtle way of taking responsibility for the affair. Hester has her own emotional moral compass. She wears her Scarlet letter with honor, even though it is supposed to be a badge of shame.