dbello's answer covers most of the ground, but I have another view of her last comment, that her "sin" was her freedom. Hester was "free" before her sin; she had an open attitude toward life that allowed her to see her failing as a violation of civil law but not a violation of her internal law. After her sin, she was clearly less free; there were places she could not go, she had, at least temporarily, lost the respect of her fellow citizens, she had to raise Pearl by herself (no easy task), and she was destined to live alone.
She could bear all this because of her integrity and strength, but these were there before her "sin."
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