In the scarlet letter how is the 'A' reinterpreted and how/why is this significant?

In"Another View of Hester" from

we see how the town's view of Hester and her ignominious letter
has
changed over the past seven years.

Because she has
sinned, she has the
ability to not only see it in her fellow Puritans, but
she is also able to support and comfort
them.  The letter still stands out to
the town, but it has begun to serve as a lighthouse for
those searching for
comfort and a place to find solace.

There glimmered the embroidered letter, with comfort in its unearthly ray.
Elsewhere
the token of sin, it was the taper of the sick-chamber. It had even
thrown its gleam, in the
sufferer's hard extremity, across the verge of time.
It had shown him where to set his foot,
while the light of earth was fast
becoming dim, and ere the light of futurity could reach
him.

Unlike those who were so quick to turn their
backs
on her, she was willing to offer a shoulder to cry on.  By calling her
a "self-ordained
Sister of Mercy," Hawthorne is showing the reader how Hester
has taken it upon herself to
tend to the sick, help the poor, and listen to
the brokenhearted.

In such emergencies,
Hester's nature showed itself warmand rich; a well-spring of human

tenderness, unfailing to every realdemand, and inexhaustible by the largest. Her breast,
with
its badge ofshame, was but the softer pillow for the head that needed
one. She wasself-ordained
a Sister of Mercy; or, we may rather say, the
world'sheavy hand had so ordained her, when
neither the world nor she
lookedforward to this result.

Unlike
the harsh gossips who judged and criticized her in , she has the power to

sympathize and listen to her fellow man. Surprised by this change, the town begins to
stop
regarding her letter as a symbol of her "adultery" and more a symbol
that she is
"able."

The letter was the
symbol of her
calling. Suchhelpfulness was found in her,so much power to do,
and power tosympathise,that many
people refused to interpret the scarlet A by
itsoriginal signification. They said that it meant
Able; so strong was , with
a woman's strength.