In The Scarlet Letter, what is Hester's punishment, and what do the Puritan magistrates hope to accomplish with this punishment?

When the
colonial city wherelived found out that she was pregnant, though unmarried, she was subject to
the laws of the Puritan government. By those laws, adultery was punishable by death. However,
the ministers who were in charge of enforcing the laws on behalf of the church decided to grant
her leniency. They recognized that she had lost her husband at sea and decided to lessen her
sentence and allow her to live. She served some time in prison, spent three hours in the public
square on display in the pillory, and was required to wear a scarlet letter
A , which stood for adultery,...