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Scaffold Scene In The Scarlet Letter

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Nathanial Hawthorne sets the climax of The Scarlet Letter up in his telling of the scaffold scene. Throughout the scene Hawthorne utilizes parallelism, a subtle spiritual allusion and a heavy dose of irony in order to resolve the main conflict of the book, Dimmesdale’s refusal to tell the truth. Hawthorne presents the scene at a very quick pace; which appeases his audience compared to the slower pace set in earlier chapters.
Hawthorne makes clear the thoughts of Dimmesdale by continuously repeating them. Dimmesdale is up on the scaffold and wants nothing more than for Hester and Pearl to join him, “come hither! Come…” he repeats to them throughout the scene. Hawthorne makes Dimmesdale wish so clear in order to show that he is exposing his sin for their benefit. Along with needing Hester and Pearl by his side, Dimmesdale also illuminates that “with God’s help” he will be free. Hawthorne engrains that Dimmesdale could not stand up and speak out if he didn’t believe that God was in his corner. Hawthorne’s use of parallelism clarifies to the audience what they already know, Dimmesdale is a weak man who needs reassurance from another person or entity that …show more content…

When Dimmesdale is walking to the scaffold a man stops him urging him not to “blacken” his “fame”. This old man embodies the hypocrisy so deeply embedded in the minds of the Puritans that when Hester committed the sin she was damned for life but since he is a minster there is no need for punishment. Dimmesdale always needing support, begs Hester to “support” him up on “yonder scaffold”. Hester had to stand up on the scaffold with nothing but a red letter marking her chest, an illegitimate baby, and the judgment of the townspeople to keep her company but Dimmesdale is now asking for support after doing nothing to help her so many years before. By putting Dimmesdale in Hester’s position the hypocrisy of the Puritans can no longer be

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The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, focuses on the life of Hester Prynne—the unlucky soul who is caught committing adultery and forced to live a life of shame and ignominy. The scaffold is not only the start of her predicament, but it is also the end of the once seemingly perfect Reverend Dimmesdale’s own guilt. The scaffold is the setting of a scene three times throughout the novel: the beginning, middle, and end. For such a lifeless object, it is difficult to recognize its significance in the novel; however, the scaffold is used by Hawthorne to portray the changing relationship between the characters, specifically Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl.

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The scaffolds in The Scarlet Letter symbolize the shame and sin the person who is standing upon it holds. The scaffolds also show Hester’s path to a normal life. During the first scaffold scene, she holds Pearl over the scarlet letter and is ashamed of it. In the second scaffold scene, she starts to accept the letter, and by the last scaffold scene she has totally accepted the letter. The scaffold scenes change each time as she gets closer to salvation, but one thing that always stays the same is that Hester, Chillingworth, Dimmesdale, and Pearl are always present.

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This again shows that he is not afraid to be with Hester through this ordeal. Dimmesdale is also shown in the book to be a generally a nice person. An example of this is is throughout the book, he tries to get more involved in Pearl’s Life as he sees that they are precious moments with his daughter. Another example is when Dimmesdale says to everyone publically he has committed the sin of adultery. Instead of reporting him to the authorities and having him punished, they congratulate him for being holy as he’s always been.

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Guilt lead Dimmesdale to whip himself, starve himself, and possibly carve the scarlet letter into himself. His health depletes rapidly after Hester is publically shamed but he is allowed to continue his normal daily life. This creates unrest in Dimmesdale, he feels that he also deserves a punishment. Therefore, one night, Dimmesdale in his state of omnipresent guilt, goes to the scaffold, the one that Hester was publicly shamed on. While traveling

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One of the best signs of symbolism is repetition shown throughout the story. The scaffold reappears within The Scarlet Letter three times within the writing; in the beginning, midway through the writing, and towards the end. In each scenario where Hester is reunited with the scaffold, Hawthorne uses distinct similarities and differences that help enhance the meaning. Through Hawthorne’s word choice, one can clearly see the bountiful embarrassment brought by Hester being shamed on the scaffold; "a penalty, which in our days, would refer a degree of mocking infamy and ridicule, might then be interested with almost as strong a dignity as the punishment of death itself" (Hawthorne 44). The scaffold directly symbolizes emotion such as persecution and confession.

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“He turned towards the scaffold, and stretched forth his arms. ‘Hester,’ said he, ‘come hither! Come, my little Pearl!’” (Hawthorne, 235). Dimmesdale’s physical action of turning toward the scaffold and stretching out his arms corroborated not only his acceptance of Hester and Pearl as his family but also of his sin.

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