The town fathers'act of marking Hester with a scarlet letter serves to maintain their power in the community by turning her into an example of their sermons. They preached against the sin of bearing a child out of wedlock. Hester's husband sent her to live in America on her own. He was supposed to follow her but deserted her. The people of the town did not know she was married. They assumed she was unmarried so they marked her with a scarlet letter to punish her and show the rest of the town that it is wrong to fall pregnant without being married.
