How does hawthorne describe the scarlett letter itself and in what different forms does it appear in the novel

Although it is clear that the scarlet letter reads "A", it's meaning varies based on how we want to understand it. The basic meaning is adulterer but as time changed and Hester showed that there is more to her and that she is a loving woman, people began to look upon that A not as an adulterer, but as something positive, such as "able" or "angel"