Nathaniel Hawthorne: "Dia telah berkeliaran, tanpa aturan atau bimbing...

"Dia telah berkeliaran, tanpa aturan atau bimbingan, ke padang gurun moral ... Akal dan hatinya memiliki rumah mereka, seolah-olah, di tempat-tempat gurun, di mana dia berkeliaran dengan bebas seperti orang Indian liar di hutannya ... Surat merah adalah paspornya ke daerah di mana wanita lain tidak berani melangkah. Malu, Putus asa, Kesendirian! Ini adalah gurunya — yang keras dan liar — dan mereka membuatnya kuat, tetapi mengajarinya banyak kesalahan."

--- Nathaniel Hawthorne

Versi Bahasa Inggris

She had wandered, without rule or guidance, into a moral wilderness... Her intellect and heart had their home, as it were, in desert places, where she roamed as freely as the wild Indian in his woods... The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers—stern and wild ones—and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.