Because hester refuses to leave salem after her public trial, she clearly has issues. her choice to live out her punishment rather than escape it shows both strength of character and a deep belief in the idea of atonement. which replacement word would best clarify the meaning of "issues"?

The best word to replace the "issues" is anxieties. The reasons why she would not just leave the town and escape the situation is due to some reasons which makes her look anxious on some matters. First, she was morally obligated to repay for all the wrong acts she had done in the town where she committed them. For her, it’s but right to serve her punishment on the scene of her guilt. Second, running away would only strengthen the people’s judgment of her on being guilty. Another is, she actually had nowhere to go to when she will decided to just run away. To add to that, these may be good reasons but half of the truth was, she’d also want to stay because of her fondness to stay close to her lover, Dimmesdale.

The answer is C. Guilt. She has guilt for what shes done so that's why shes staying. She feels like she deserves her punishment. She wanted to make amends.