Scaffold In The Scarlet Letter

The scaffold, a public place of humiliation, sits in the middle of the Puritan town of Boston. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale stands at the scaffold watching Hester Prynne, his lover and soulmate, as she is being accused of a crime they committed together, the crime of adultery. Hester is to be punished for a lifetime because of this adulterous act. In The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne is publicly shamed with a letter “A” embroidered on her clothing, a symbol of adultery. In the Puritan town, people who sin receive ignominious punishments as a result of going against their religious beliefs. The goal of these punishments is to show the townspeople what happens when they turn against their core values. As Hester is

As Hester stands on the scaffold, the town officials, including Dimmesdale, watch as she suffers from humiliation and they judge her as she is put to shame. Hester stands with the symbol of her sin on her chest, the letter “A”. She holds her infant daughter, Pearl, who was the result of this sin. The child has become the living symbol of the scarlet letter. The scaffold is where Hester’s humiliation and punishment is revealed to the town. Dimmesdale is too cowardly to admit his part in the adultery because of his fears of losing his high status. In front of the townspeople, Dimmesdale preaches to Hester to confess the name of Pearl’s father. The town looks up to him and believes in him because “In this state, the voice of the preacher thundered remorselessly” (Hawthorne 40). As Hester refuses, Dimmesdale tells the town that “She will not speak” to reveal the name of her partner (40). Among the men in the crowd, Roger Chillingworth, Hester’s true husband, is spotted watching as he learns about his wife’s sin. He was thought to be deceased when Hester and Dimmesdale had their affair. As the town learns about Hester and her act of adultery, Dimmesdale continues to keep his role a secret as he acts as the