What is the meaning of the lline,"the scarlet letter has not done its office"? The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

This phrase
comes from Chapter XIII of , a chapter that many have perceivedas, like Ann Hutchinson, a rising
feminist.  For, while she has subjugated her independence of thought to the care and safety of
her child, she has not achieved repentance for her sin with a renewal of Puritan faith. 
Instead, she feels a cold despair, wondering if

it were
for ill or good that the poor little creaature had been born at all.

In fact, the same question arises in Hester's mind regarding
"the whole race of womanhood." She ponders the "hopeless task" of
independence for women who must abandon the priorities of the heart if they are to be able to
achieve any recognition as individuals and who must see an entire reform of society if there are
to be "mightier reforms."  Certainly, they cannot be a part of the Puritan community
with its denial of the spirit of woman.  Ironically, then, it is Hester's mark of the scarlet
letter and isolation from the Puritan community that has drawn her farther away from the thought
of her sect as it has afforded her the distance and independence necessary to such ponderings. 
Indeed, the scarlet letter has not done its office of molding Hester into a true
Puritan.