Hester as a Religious Figure?

I meant to post this on Thursday and it didn't post! Sorry!

In re-reading The Scarlet Letter for the third time an interesting quotation popped out at me this time around that got me thinking about Hester in a different light. When Hester and Dimmesdale are in the forest when they decide to leave town together there's a moment when Dimmesdale realizes his love for Hester: "'Do I feel joy again?' cried he, wondering at himself. 'Methought the germ of it was dead in me! O Hester, thou art my better angel! I seem to have flung myself--sick, sin-stained, and sorrow-blackened--down upon these forest leaves, and to have risen up all made anew, and with new powers to glorify Him that hath been merciful! This is already the better life!'" (560). This passage made me consider whether or not Hester could function as a religious symbol throughout the novel. It is clear that she represents sinning against her own religion and breaking the rules of her Puritan society; however, the fact that Dimmesdale calls her an angel puts her on a higher religious pedestal than I ever previously considered her.

Trying to find other evidence of Hester's holy affiliation was relatively difficult, mostly due to the density of description throughout the novel, but I started simply by looking at the first description of the scarlet letter, which seems to set her apart from everyone else: "That SCARLET LETTER, so fantastically embroidered and illuminated upon her bosom. It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and inclosing her in a sphere by herself" (480). Whether this description means to sound godly, it most definitely alienates her from the average townsperson of Salem. Although the scarlet letter is meant to pull her down to a more devilish appearance in this passage it seems to raise her above everyone else in a heavenly sense.

Another instance where it could be argued that Hester has some connection to a higher religious power is when the scarlet A appears in the sky. I'm not sure why Hawthorne would connect Hester with a higher Godly power, but maybe it was to question how much of a sin she really committed, and that she was (even if not in a holy sense) superior to the rest of her town.