We explored the influence of the writings of Margaret Fuller on Hawthorne's protagonist, Hester Prynne. Margaret Fuller was an American journalist and women's rights advocate associated with the Transcendental Movement. We read a summary of some her writings as expressed in her book"Woman in the Nineteenth Century" and then compared these ideas with the inner thoughts of Hester Prynne who privately believes the structure of society must be torn down and rebuilt. We then discussed how and why Hawthorne may have interjected these "radical ideas" into a novel about the hypocrisy of sin and sinners.