Scarlet Letter Scaffold Scene Essay

In The Scarlet letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Violent Bear it away by Flannery O’ Connor, Dimmesdale is affected by his love for pearl, while Rayber is affected by his love for Bishop. Although these two characters and the scenes are similar based on their love for their children, they are different because Dimmesdale’s actions during the scaffold scene aren’t based off his love for Pearl but because of the shame by the scarlet letter and the torturing he saw himself being put through. This difference suggests that the scaffold scene focuses on Dimmesdale’s remorse, which leads him to the brink of insanity, as it ultimately leads him to his confession in the last scaffold scene. Rayber did not have the ability to drown bishop, because

Through day and night, the scaffold is a place of punishment, awaiting its next victim. People pass by wondering who the next victim is going to be. This public punishment causes many to change and work to preserve their reputation. Despite this, the scaffold turns into a constant place of punishment, in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hester’s love for Dimmesdale and Dimmesdale’s cowardice hold significant meanings in the novel, which lead up to Dimmesdale gaining a more mature mindset.

In The Scarlet Letter, the scaffold scenes are arguably the most discussed and memorable in the novel. These scenes act as a major setting not once, nor even twice, but, indeed, thrice. The scaffold scenes contain an abundance of imagery, most aid to the discovery that the scaffold is symbolic for judgement day, and Pearl is a symbol for God. The scaffold scenes provide a clear representation of “the great judgement day”.

The central character of the novel, Hester Prynne, undergoes a significant change in character, mainly due to the shame stemming from being forced to bare the scarlet letter. During the first scaffold scene in which she is undergoing trial, Hester is described as: “lady-like . . . characterized by a certain state of dignity . . . her beauty shone out, and made a halo of the misfortune and ignominy in which she was enveloped” (Hawthorne 103). Despite the presence of a multitude of women sneering at her as she makes the seemingly endless walk to the place of her trial, Hester maintains her cold, almost pompous facade. It is a testament to her initial immense amount of resilience of character and mental strength to keep from breaking down into tears while on the scaffold. This idea of Hester desiring to and succeeding in maintaining a proud and aloof air is further evidenced by the ornateness and intricacy of the scarlet letter itself.

The symbol of the scaffold evolves in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet letter is build around the symbolic scaffold. The main characters transform the scaffold from the exposition to resolution. Next the traits of the scaffold itself deteriorate throughout the novel. Finally, the scaffold is applied symbolically throughout Hawthorne’s novel.

In The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, there are three scenes set on a scaffold that propel the novel forward. Each one marks a pillar of the story, and while each scene is vastly different from the others, they are all similar because Hawthorne makes it apparent that guilt is either embraced and used to build resilience or demolishes all walls that are built and festers in the heart. The first scaffold scene serves as the exposition in which Hester, for the first time donning her scarlet letter, and Pearl, the illegitimate daughter, are publicly shamed by the rest of their Puritan society. As Reverend Dimmesdale interrogates Hester, he states that keeping Pearl’s father a secret would compel him to “add hypocrisy to sin,” keeping his identity a secret forever (Hawthorne 58).

The harsh townspeople force her up on the scaffold to be humiliated in front of the whole town. Not only is she sent up on the scaffold with her sin revealed by the “A” for everyone to see, Hester becomes an example of what a woman should not come to be. The author is talking about Hesters experience on the scaffold and her pregnancy, “Throughout them all, giving up her individuality, she would become the general symbol at which the preacher and moralist might point, and in which they might vivify and embody their images of woman's frailty and sinful passion”(32). Hester looses her individuality and is labeled by the townspeople and known for the Scarlet Letter. Further, the townspeople singled her out as an alien or outcast of the town forcing her to live an abnormal live. She was ridiculed and known for her one sin, unable to have acceptance back into society. Although the townspeople feel as if Hester has brought sin upon there lives, she clearly have not harmed any of the townspeople physically, and they have no grounds to punish Hester. The cause of the townspeople's harsh disciplinary acts on Hester originates from a strict, unrealistic standards of puritan society and the zero tolerance of any ungodly behavior observed in the town. Due to the absence of proper justice, Hester's sentencing is left up to the harsh townspeople in which they show no mercy or

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter, the author uses three scaffold scenes to mark the development of Hester Prynne. The image of Hester atop the scaffolding is a metaphor for her forced solitude; for her banishment from society; and for the futility of her punishment. In the first scene, Hawthorne uses the scaffold to explain how Hester can not believe that the “A'; and the baby are real. In the second scaffold scene, Hawthorne tries to convey to the reader that Hester has fully repented for her sin, however this is not true. In the final scaffold scene, Hester does not yet fully repent for her sin because her love for Dimmesdale is still strong. Through Hester, Hawthorne is trying to communicate to the

The Scarlet Letter Introduction The Scarlet Letter is a classic tale of sin, punishment, and revenge. It was written in 1850 by the famous American author Nathaniel Hawthorne. It documents the lives of three tragic characters, each of whom suffer greatly because of his or her sins. Shot Plot The story begins with Hester Prynne, a resident of a small Puritan community, being led from the town jailhouse to a public scaffold where she must stand for three hours as punishment for adultery. She must also wear a scarlet A on her dress for the rest of her life as part of her punishment. As she is led to the scaffold, many of the women in the crowd complain that

Hester Prynne is the protagonist of The Scarlet Letter, a novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. She was a beautiful woman who, because of her adultery, experienced persecution and was ostracized by everyone in her town. Her shame and guilt gave her an understanding of sin and redemption. She serves as an example of someone who is rejected by society and, because of it, grows in both strength and wisdom. Hester’s sin overshadowed her beauty and talent, but her humble and generous deeds gained her respect over many years.

The first scaffold scene sets the image of a dark figure in the crowd of society in the village which sits on the edge of the wilderness – Hester standing on a raised platform confronting a hostile crowd in silence and pride, a young girl who has come alone to the New World where circumstances has divided her from the community now gathered in front of her. The second scaffold scene occurs right in the middle of the story when Dimmesdale gets on the platform in a half-hearted attempt to confess his sin. This scene is set on a dark night after the young minister has kept his watch. Hawthorne calls this scene a “mockery of penitence” and “a vain show of expiation”. The scarlet "A" is again emphasized here when Hester, along with Pearl, is on the platform to stand there along side Dimmesdale, this time by stressing Dimmesdale’s obsession with his own guilt.

In the first scaffold scene Hester Prynne is depicted standing alone while clutching her baby. She has been sentenced to the scaffold for three hours to face public condemnation. In the Puritan society, where this novel is set, public shame is a source of entertainment. On this occasion the townspeople are present to watch the judgment of Hester.

This essay will describe the events of each scene and how each situation relates to the scaffold segment. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is condemned and becomes the black sheep of Boston when it is discovered that she was impregnated during an affair. Her punishment is to wear a red “A” for the rest of her life. Although she was not the only sinner, she refuses to reveal his identity.

From the beginning, we see that Hester Prynne is a young and beautiful woman who has brought a child into the world with an unknown father. She is punished by Puritan society by wearing the scarlet letter A on the bosom of her dress and standing on the scaffold for three hours. The scaffold is a painful task to bear; the townspeople gathered around to gossip and stare at Hester and her

In the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, we notice that action only happens in a few places, among which are the forest, the market place, the governor’s residence, and Dimmesdale’s house. Although all these locations are significant to the story, the most important symbol among them is certainly the scaffold in the market place, where the story begins and ends. The scaffold’s meaning changes throughout the story and has different values for different characters. It represents humiliation, then insight, and finally redemption for Hester and Dimmesdale, but for Chillingworth, it symbolizes birth of sin, growth of sin, and ultimately consummation by sin.