Scaffold Symbolism In The Scarlet Letter
Alexander the Great, Hero or Villain? Alexander the Great was a major world conquerer, who controlled over 22 million square miles of land by the end of his journey. He was born in Macedonia as Philip II’s son in 356 BC and became king of Macedonia when he turned 20, after his fathers death. When he was king first he ended the Theban revolt and enslaved all the people to set an example for what would happen if you rebelled against Alexander. Then he set out to conquer the rest of the world until his death in 323 BC.
Hester's divine beauty outshines others corrupt beliefs of her. While Hester walks stumbles out the prison doors and onto the dreaded scaffold, Hawthorne describes Hester as "the young woman [who] was tall, with a figure of perfect elegance, on a large scale" (40). Hester Prynne is being publicly shamed for the act of adultery she committed along with the minister who condemns her. She is forced to stand on the scaffold and beat the sorrow of he sins with the scarlet letter "A" on her bosom to represent her shameful acts. This mark of embarrassment serves a purpose to make her appear unrighteous, but the author chooses to focus on her beauty, which outshines this emblem.
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.
In the beginning of the book when Hester is recieving her punishment for her adulterous relationship, Hawthorne. Describes the situation by saying, “there can be no outrage, methinks, against our common nature-whatever be the delinquencies of the individual- no outrage more flagrant than to forbid the culprit to hide his face for shame; as it was the essence of this punishment to do” (Hawthorne 53-54). This portrayal of Hester’s punishment shows how shameful it was made out to be for her. She is forced own up to her sin and take the shame publicly upon the scaffold. And much like in Brooks’ The Shame Culture this begins to shape behavior.
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.
After having a sexual relationship with a man that she was not married to, Pyrnne was sentenced to spending 3 hours on the Scaffold while being publicly humiliated by the crowd that came to witness the suffering that she endured. This public shaming brought pure joy to the people who witnessed the punishment. For example, “the scene was not without a mixture of awe, such as must always in-vest the spectacle of guilt and shame in a fellow- creature, before society shall grow corrupt enough to smile, instead of shuddering at it”(Hawthorne 48). The crowd in which Pyrnne is being humiliated in front of is filled with excitement by her embarrassment. The embarrassment that Hester encounters during her time on the Scaffold represents how people gain a sense of power and superiority over someone else's misery.
The Puritan belief and lifestyle plays a major role in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter. The story takes place in Puritan New England, and opens with a scene presenting to the audience that a young woman named Hester Prynne has committed adultery. Wearing her punishment proudly, a scarlet letter “A” on her breast, Hester continues to live in New England where she raises her daughter and creates an embroidering business for herself. All the while, in the heart of the town, Hester’s lover and the child’s father, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale silently suffers and is ultimately overcome with guilt from his secret sin until the point of death.
She receives three punishments from the townspeople, who claim they will free her from her sin. The community orders Hester to go to jail, wear a scarlet letter on her chest, and stand on the town scaffold for hours. Hester wears her scarlet letter proudly on her chest, and endures much suffering because of her public ridicule. Hester is “kept by no restrictive clause of her condemnation within the limits of the Puritan settlement” after she was released from prison, but she chooses to stay (Hawthorne 71). Later, Hester’s child, Pearl, symbolizes the Puritan view of Hester.
The book “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a complex novel that has underlying themes of sin and the responsibility for sin. The novel takes place in a Puritanical society, but two people, Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale, fornicate with each other, even though Hester is married to someone else. Only Hester is punished, so Dimmesdale keeps his guilt inside, not revealing it to anyone. Hester’s husband, Chillingworth, then proceeds to ruin Hester’s partner in crime, corrupting his soul and being the ultimate cause for his death. Hester, on the other hand, leads a relatively happy life after she had repented for her sin.
Hester Prynne is the protagonist of the story. She commits the sin of adultery and her punishment was to wear the scarlet letter “A” on her chest for the rest of her life. The color scarlet of her letter represents a sexual sin. This is her punishment of shame because wherever she goes everybody will see her for her sin and her evil and not anything else. Even with Hester facing all this shame and punishment from the public she wears her scarlet letter with confidence and almost like she is proud of it.
Even though she is supposed to be humiliated in front of the town as punishment for her adultery, she smiles proudly and wears her scarlet letter as a badge. In this instance, Hester refuses to accept her punishment thereby nullifying the punishment. If Hester were to be embarrassed on the scaffold, she would give her punishment the power to be a punishment. However, when Hester instead smiles on the scaffold, she shows that she won’t let her sin control her, no matter what the other townspeople think of her. Another example of how Hester denies her punishment is how she designed the scarlet letter.
At the beginning of the story, the scarlet “A” is considered as a badge of shame. Hester doesn´t show the scarlet letter as a symbol of shame when she wears it, because she wears a beautiful scarlet “A” embroidered with gold, that she made herself thanks to her ability in making precious needle works. Hester is capable of wearing the scarlet letter in a very determined and secure way. This is why, at the beginning of the story, the townspeople think she is “proud” of her sin. The puritan beliefs say that the scarlet letter should not be pretty, because it is a “punishment” for the sinners to feel ashamed.
Genetic engineering is the alteration of genetic material in living things with the aim of producing new substances or creating new functions (Lerner). In Brave New World, Aldous Huxley explores possible outcomes of extreme genetic engineering. He predicts a world, The World State, where everything about a person is determined in a flask. However, Huxley only allows for a very limited view of the opportunities that accompany genetic engineering; Huxley fails to realize how much mankind can be elevated by the simple manipulation of genes. Genetic engineering would allow for an elevation of the human race, through predetermining an individual’s characteristics.
The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, was published in 1850. It focuses on the life of the main protagonist, Hester Prynne, living in a Puritan community. Both Yamin Wang and Maria Stromberg offer insight into The Scarlet Letter and analyze multiple aspects of the story.. Both Wang and Stromberg claim that there is an underlying ideology hidden in the texts of the book. Wang approaches the story from a feminist approach and states that Hester represents the feminism in the Puritan community, and she analyzes the Puritan’s outlook on women in their society.
Hester's punishment was a judicial sentence; however, being forced to stand on the scaffold for three hours, and to wear the scarlet letter "A" for the rest of her life. It was socially humiliating. Hester was sent to prison for committing adultery. Hester was forced to live with the consequences by wearing the scarlet letter "A". Hester is physically and emotionally reminded of her sin, while wearing the scarlet letter "A".
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