In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter, the high points of action for the four main characters revolve around the towns scaffold. The scaffold plays a crucial role in Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, their daughter Pearl, and Roger Chillingworth’s lives. They all undergo a major change because of the scaffold throughout the story. Hester is affected by the scaffold in many different ways. The scaffold is the most public place in the Puritan society, where all criminals are publicly punished. She is sentenced to stand atop the scaffold for three hours, and is required to wear a scarlet "A" ("A" is the symbol of adultery and shame) on her bosom. Many emotions and thoughts run through Hester’s head while she is on the platform. In addition to her being a symbol of guilt and ignominy, the scaffold is a form of public humiliation and punishment. As she is on the platform with her …show more content…
He watches from the side as Hester and his daughter are being shamed. He says, “‘I charge thee to speak out the name of thy fellow-sinner and fellow-sufferer! Be not silent from any mistakes and pity and tenderness for him; and stand there beside thee, on thy pedestal of shame, yet better were it so than to hide a guilty heart through life.”’ From Dimmesdale saying this we see how ironic it is because he is the one hiding the sins. Hester refuses to name the father, and the longer Dimmesdale keeps the sin to himself the weaker he gets. The townspeople say he is working himself too hard, and when he tries to confess his sins in his sermons the people only see him as being more holy. After several years of keeping his sin hidden his soul is poisoned. His hidden sin defeats him one day, and he takes his last breath upon the scaffold with his head rested on Hester, with Pearl atop the scaffold with them, they finally are together as a family in front of everyone to