Scarlet Letter Response

Brian Gould
English 4 
Chapter 13 
Analyze the following line: "The Scarlet Letter had not done its office."  Do you agree or disagree?  Why?

I both agree and disagree with the book's text, stating that "The Scarlet Letter had not done its office." This means that it didn't do what it was supposed to do. Throughout the book I had thought that the point of the letter was to make Hester Prynne feel shame for what she had done but to also to learn from what she had done. So in one sense, with feeling the shame, the Scarlet Letter had not done its job because she had redeemed herself of the shame by doing good deeds and gaining some respect from the townspeople. However, if you look it in a different way, as in to make Hester learn from her mistakes, then I think it was a success because she didn't have another child, and commit the sin again or any sin for that matter, but she also tried to help others around her. I think it depends on how you look at the meaning of the letter.