The Sccaffold Scenes In The Scarlet Letter

The setting of the story takes place back in Hawthorne’s home town, Salem Massachusetts. The story features the theme of “To own a sin is to disown it.” (…..)The plot of the story starts out as the protagonist Hester is being charged for adultery after having a kid with someone she was not married to. Puritans believed in branding the Scarlet A on those charged with adultery to let it be known that they are damned to hell. Hester believes that her husband died at sea, but he has hidden in secrecy, and is practicing medicine by the name of Roger Chillingworth. Ironically, he was in attendance at the scaffold while Hester was being branded the scarlet A for her charge. Still no one knew who the father of the child was. Although a couple years later the court tried to take away Hester’s child, she managed to keep custody with the help of the minister, Dimmesdale. Ironically Dimmesdale, starts developing health problems and Chillingworth moved in to help medicate him. The story then reveals that Dimmesdale is the father. Dimmesdale met Hester in the woods one night, and planned to leave Boston. Then the story takes a drastic turn for the worse as the day they planned to leave, Dimmesdale went to the scaffold to confess his sin then immediately died of a stroke. In this story Hawthorne uses symbols that represent Puritan beliefs. One of his major symbols is the

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter expresses various themes of dark romanticism using symbolism. One of the more obvious symbols is that of the scaffold, which is present throughout the story. Upon in-depth exploration, I discovered this use of symbolism relates both literally and metaphorically to the dark romantic themes present in Hawthorne’s tale. First, let me discuss the scaffold and its constant presence in the story. The townspeople, Hester, and Dimmesdale use the scaffold on numerous occasions; most often, its use is to shame, harass, and isolate Hester Prynne so that she will confess the name of her child’s father. However, at times, the scaffold is used as a sanctuary and a confessional for others.

This ridicule has a trickle down effect on Hester as she too is banished from her own community for committing adultery. The comparison between Hester and Hawthorne defines the external struggle for the reader to fully understand the effect of opinions from society on them Although reluctant to allow Hester to leave prison, the members of the town suggest that her punishment be to wear a scarlet red letter A on her bosom, thereby allowing all to know of her crime. The scarlet letter “ was red-hot with infernal fire, ” (Hawthorne 81) and defined the state she was currently in, that being eternal hell. Though she was forced to marry an older man at a young age, her rebellion to have an affair is not seen as an internal struggle that she overcame; rather, it is merely seen as a woman who sinned, a woman who shall therefore endure the punishment for the sin, rather than a woman who was never given a say in what she wanted with her life. Time and again, Hester Prynne is seen defying society by allowing herself to stand out from societal norm just as the roses “with its delicate gems, which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner“ (Hawthorne) did. Instead, she returns to the community and is observed aiding those in need, all with seven year old Pearl by her side.

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

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.

In Nathaniel Hawethorne’s The Scarlet Letter, five scenes stand above the rest in the entirety of the book. Each of these scenes focusing on one of the main characters, Hester Prynne and her daughter, Pearl, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth, who’s real name has never been revealed. In order of occurrence, the scenes which have been deemed most important include, Hester on the scaffold holding Pearl as an infant, and Roger Chillingworth visiting Hester while she is still in the prison being two examples. Another being what many would consider the climax of story is when Dimmesdale stands on the scaffold with Hester and Pearl in the darkness. The final two being Dimmesdale and Hester’s meeting in the forest, and the day upon which Arthur confesses his sins and passes on. Though these are all strictly opinion, they are key points in the novel.

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.

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

The Scarlet Letter, a novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, has a plot that is greatly affected by significant scaffold scenes. During these scaffold scenes, the main characters are on a scaffold, or raised platform, as the center of attention for a period of humiliation and punishment. The reader is introduced to Hester Prynne and her daughter, Pearl Prynne, during the first of three scaffold scenes. It is revealed that Hester is being punished for committing adultery. Halfway into The Scarlet Letter, Hester and Pearl appear on top of the scaffold for the second time.

“On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold-thread, appeared the letter A.” (40) Every aspect of the story of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter, whether it be major or minor, stems from this line. From beginning to end, the scarlet letter has a major bearing on the unfolding of the plot. Hester Prynne, an adulteress, has been spared death for her sin, but she must wear a scarlet letter “A” for the rest of her life. Her husband, who has been living with Native Americans for the past two years, arrives in town just in time to see her holding a baby and being publicly humiliated for the crime of adultery and vows to get revenge. As the story unfolds, Hester and Pearl continue with their day to day lives while Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, Pearl’s father, struggles with the sin that he has committed. It later becomes public knowledge that Pearl, Hester’s daughter is the child of the beloved reverend. Hawthorne uses the themes of adversity resulting in joyfulness, presenting to the reader that even though everything at the present may be hopeless, there is something that will come about and make all the suffering seem petty, and freedom from captivity, allowing the reader to consider that while a burden may not seem like such, once it is removed, the effect is similar to that of a bird being released from a cage. These lead to the production of the novel that is The Scarlet Letter. Through

Imagine being publicly shamed every day in your life. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, the author uses three scaffold scenes to represent the change in Hester Prynne. The image of Hester atop the scaffolding is a metaphor for her banishment from society, and for the pointlessness of her punishment. The three scaffold scenes have a numerous amount of similarities, but they also have quite a few differences.

In the stories of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the antagonist characters display parallel story lines through their searches for the enemy. Roger Chillingworth, the former husband of Hester Prynne and the antagonist of The Scarlet Letter, works against his wife in order to find her untold second lover. Frankenstein is a contrasting story in which an unnamed monster is the antagonist towards his human creator, Dr. Frankenstein. Yet despite quite different story lines, the two characters possess traits that exibit parallels between them. In the novel The Scarlet Letter, Roger Chillingworth displays the startling passionate characteristics of an unwavering drive to seek out his foe, madness as his focus on his search takes over his entire being, and terrible anguish when his task is unexpectedly over, all of which are reflected in the daemon created at the hand of Dr. Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley 's novel Frankenstein.

The first scaffold scene sets a pattern for the next two, giving a base for Hawthorne to build off of when he talks about the next two. Hester and Pearl are on the scaffold alone, waiting for the town to ridicule them. Hester starts daydreaming while in the scaffold because she doesn’t want anyone to see how she is truly feeling. She doesn’t want the sympathy of anyone in the town. She wears her Scarlet A on her chest which she has embroidered magnificently, but she does not want anyone to see it. So she tries to place Pearl over it as a means to hide it. But as Pearl is a Scarlet Letter herself all she does is draw more attention to her sin. Dimmesdale watches from the side with other leaders from the town, knowing he too should be ridiculed,

“Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted for too long a series of generations in the same worn-out soil. My children have had other birthplaces, and, so far as their fortunes may be within my control, shall strike their roots into unaccustomed earth.” (23)-Nameless narrator’s narration