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Three Scaffold Scenes In Scarlet Letter

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In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book, The Scarlet Letter, he clearly illustrates the main characters as they go through many trials. As the characters face their trials, they discover new experiences and undergo many changes. The way the Puritan society views them leads the characters to explore new places and things that Puritans dare not go or do. The three scaffold scenes show to be significant as they advance the story and also represent the basic structure of the book. In the book, The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is introduced in the first scaffold scene,
Reverend Dimmesdale goes onto the scaffold at night in the second scene, and Hester,
Dimmesdale and Pearl go onto the scaffold in front of everyone in the third.
The first scaffold scene …show more content…

Dimmesdale, in the middle of the festival, calls out to Hester and Pearl telling them to join him on the scaffold, confesses his sin in front of everyone and dies. “...I stand upon the spot where, seven years since, I should have stood, here with this woman…”(Hawthorne 172). This is the part in the book where Dimmesdale finally confesses his sin in front of everyone. The town cannot believe him and are shocked. “Farewell! That final word came forth with the minister’s expiring breath” (Hawthorne 174). Reverend Dimmesdale is telling Hester good-bye because he is dying. After saying good-bye he dies and the spectators there are silent. This shows that sin will eventually come forth whether they confess it alive or on judgement day.
In the, The Scarlet Letter, the first scaffold scene establishes the main character, the second scene shows why Reverend Dimmesdale goes onto the scaffold at night, and the third scene Hester, Dimmesdale and Pearl go onto the scaffold together in public view. The significance of the scaffold scenes is evident in the story. For Hester, it is a place of punishment. For Pearl, it is the one place where she feels she fits in. For Reverend Dimmesdale, it is a place of guilt and

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