The Scaffold And The Purritans In The Scarlett Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

     Hester Prynne, through the eyes of the Puritans, is an extreme sinner. She has gone against the Puritan ways by committing Adultery. The Puritans believed that Hester was a lost soul that could only be saved by sincere and thorough repentance. For this

The scaffold shows how the punishment imposed on us by others may not be as destructive as the guilt we impose on ourselves. When Hester was standing on the scaffold she is not thinking about being punished. She is having flashbacks to earlier times and feeling guilty for what she had done. The scaffold is a platform used for redemption and a symbol of the harsh Puritan code.

Returning to Boston many years after standing upon the scaffold, Hester has become a completely changed person. From being a symbol of sin and ignominy she has now become one who is filled with compassion for others. Hester has fully shed the identity given to her by the puritan society and the scarlet letter. “...people brought all their sorrows and perplexities, and besought her counsel” (Hawthorne 247). She has gained an eminence in helping others who seek help. The fact that she has gone through a hardship unlike any other, she is able to give hope to those who

Here, she said to herself, had been the scene of her guilt, and here should be the scene of her earthly punishment; and so, perchance, the torture of her daily shame would at length

Her being forced to wear the scarlet letter which led her to becoming a women’s advocate reflects the theme that good things come from bad. There was plenty of negative backlash to Hester's mistake, however she gained the ability to help other women struggling just like her. “They said that it meant Able, so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman's strength” (pg 177, Hawthorne). The sin she committed and the experience gained through the aftermath of that sin, gives her insight on what it's like to be a woman who's being discriminated. Raising her daughter on her own and her saving her from harming herself reflects the theme that everyone makes mistakes. After all Hester is human just like everyone else. It is in our nature to make mistakes or even sin. “It is remarkable, that persons who speculate the most boldly often conform with the most perfect quietude to the external regulations of society” (pg 181, Hawthorne). The actions we take to reverse or to compensate for that sin is what makes us who we are as individuals. Her being alienated from society and developing an independent thinking mindset mirrors the theme that one must acknowledge their mistakes to learn from them. Hester’s society made it abundantly clear that what she did was absolutely heinous and that she needs to repent and beg for forgiveness. The isolation she suffered through helped her become an independent thinker and develop thoughts that we would consider ahead of her time. “The world's law was no law for her mind” (pg 180, Hawthorne). Being excluded socially gave her a chance to dwell in her own thoughts and gather perceptions different from that of other puritans. This decision that Hester makes is very important to the story because it mirrors many of the major themes the author tried getting across to its

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.

As the book opens, Hester is brought forth from the jail and walked to the scaffold. For the first time being seen in public named an adulterer, Hester shies from the public as they mock her. However, "She never battled with the public, but submitted uncomplainingly to its worst usage; she made no claim upon it, in requital for what she suffered; she did not weight upon its sympathies." (Hawthorne 140). Soon, it did not matter what other people thought of Hester because of her sin. She chose not to live with the humiliation, but she did have to live with herself.

An intriguing novel typically consists of multiple elements that contribute to the overall impact of the book. Those elements may include plot, setting, moods, or themes. The Scarlet Letter, penned by Nathaniel Hawthorne, not only includes all of those elements, but also engages and intrigues the reader through the development of the characters. Throughout the novel, many of the characters change or evolve in some way. These changes are shown through their actions, words, thoughts, and feelings. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, the author develops the characters of Pearl Prynne as candid, Hester Prynne as strong-willed, and Reverend Dimmesdale as hypocritical.

The new Puritan society wanted to punish Hester Prynne horribly so that she would set an example of the consequences the others would receive if they committed a

The scaffold scene in chapter two illustrates the hyperbolic reaction to Hester Prynne’s actions. The people of the colony put Hester up on a piece of scaffolding. They do this in order to publicly degrade her, however their attempt to shame Hester only makes her stronger. (41)- “In fact this scaffold constituted part of a penal machine.” Even though Hester is on what Hawthorne describes as part of a penal machine she is brave and head strong. She acts defiantly towards the gossiping townspeople.

Furthermore, the effects of legal action and release causes society to reject the sinners quickly. These aspects support the start of a new identity for Hester since she accepts her sin and starts helping the community (76). The demonstration of identity is developed throughout the novel allowing Hester’s lifestyle to soon be accepted. In conclusion, throughout the text it is evident that opposing beliefs can cause social rejection, arising to the creation of a new

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

Imagine yourself on display in front of your whole town, being punished for cheating on your husband or wife. Today adultery is looked down on, but in reality nobody makes a huge deal out of it. Sin can affect a person in many ways, but whether it’s good or bad only time can tell. In the old days, religion and law were looked at as one, and Hester Prynne just so happened to sin, which in turn caused her to break the law. In the novel, Hester displays that how a person deals with sin has a lasting impact on the people around her, and most importantly those that are the closest to her.

While Puritan women are weak and dependent upon their husbands, Hester Prynne is empowered and self-reliant. A character designed by Hawthorne to show 19th century women that women’s work could be valuable, Hester supports herself and her daughter by needlework. “For, as the novel unfolds, the letter, intended by the Authorities to signify harsh but just condemnation, is made by Hester to signify something entirely different—able, admirable.” (Bell 109) All aspects considered, the ability of Hester, a woman who committed sin and was publicly punished for this crime, to manipulate this punishment into a virtue

This chapter continues at the scaffold when Hester notices a man that resembles her husband from England. Their eyes meet but he motions her to not let anyone in the crowd know that it is her husband. He then finds a man in the crowd and ask him about the woman and the baby. The man in the crowd explains that Hester is the wife of a well know Englishman who decided to immigrate to America. He first wanted to send his wife and said he would join her soon. He never came and then it was later revealed that Hester was pregnant. Hester’s husband asked the man in the crowd who the dad is but Hester will not say.