What point is Hawthorne making about an individual's ability to seperate oneself from one's wrongdoings?

Hester faces her own actions and lives with her punishment. She didn't have to stay in the town that condemned her, she chose to stay there. Over time, Hester is able to care for herself and for Pearl. She takes in needlework, helps with charity by making clothes for the poor, and isolates herself from the community. Her presence and her actions garner sympathy, but Hester is able to separate herself and raise her child regardless of the feelings and actions which surround her. She knows who she is, and she is able to separate herself from who others believe her to be.