Letter stiched to Hester Prynne's clothing in The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, as punishment for having a child out of wedlock in a Puritan community. The 'A,' which stood for Adultery, was a beautiful scarlet color, and bordered in gold. As time passed, and Hester learned to live with the symbol, the 'A' came to stand for Able, being that she was a competent, hard-working member of society.