Is Hester Prynne a saint or sinner in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne?

Of
course the answer to this question is "neither" if she must be only one or the other.
In one way,in 's is a much less complicated character than her lover
because her great sin is known to all and how she deals with it is overt; however, because of
that public punishment, Hester does not have to deal with the effects of her sin on her soul in
the same way thatmust. 

If a sinner is defined simply as someone who has
sinned, then Hester is, indeed, a sinner. If we think of a sinner as being someone who persists
in committing the same sin--then I might make the case that Hester is a sinner. The truth is
that Hester is really only sorry for getting caught, which she does because she is pregnant. Her
sin was not getting pregnant, though; her sin was loving a man who was not her husband while she
was married. Thus the scarlet "A" for adultery emblazoned on her breast. True
repentance requires a turning away from the sin, and...