“Hester Prynne passed through this portion of her ordeal, and came to a sort of scaffold (51),” Hawthorne tells in the opening seen of the novel, The Scarlet Letter. The scaffold is a place for punishment. “This scaffold constituted a portion of a penal machine, which now, for two or three generations past, has been merely historical and traditionary among us, but was held, in the old time, to be as effectual an agent in the promotion of good citizenship, as ever was the guillotine,” Hawthorne states in explaining the scaffolds use. The scaffold had wooden steps leading on to it. The steps of the scaffold became the walk of death for many people before they were beheaded. A balcony or open gallery stood over the platform and was attached to the meetinghouse. During Hester’s punishment, the ministers and Governor sat in the gallery in order to question her. The scaffold was located at the “western extremity” of the market place, near the church. The scaffold was a raised platform made of wood and iron. Men and women who sinned would be forced on the scaffold, either for beheading or, in Hester’s case, extreme embarrassment. The scaffold appears in the book three times, during three major scenes. The scenes are placed equally apart in the book, one at the beginning, in the middle and in the final scene at the end.
The first scaffold scene encompasses Hester’s punishment and open confession. While the third scaffold scene includes Dimmesdale's confession. In the second or middle scaffold scene, both Hester and Dimmesdale are on the scaffold in the middle of the night. The scaffold is introduced in the novel for its literal uses, but the scaffold comes to symbolize and embody many other meanings. The scaffold is a symbol of the...
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... for his sin. Both in the novel and in everyday use, the scaffold has a certain connotation to it. For instance, a person told that they were going to be scaffolded would most likely be fearful. However, as used scaffolding could simply mean that they were going to be propped up. Likewise, in The Scarlet Letter all Puritans fear chastisement on the scaffold.
In the novel, the scaffold is never used for public speaking or a theatrical performance, but only for the confession of sin. Most Puritans did not realize that the scaffold could have many positive uses. Likewise, to be scaffolded, by definition, is just as likely to be a good action as a bad one. Unfortunately, most historical documentation about the scaffold relates to of executions and punishments. Thus, the word scaffold can do many beneficial things for mankind, yet carries a very negative aura.
The three scaffold scenes bring great significance to the plot of the Scarlet Letter. The novel is based on repenting the sins of adultery. The scaffold represents a place of shame and pity but also of final triumphs. Each scene illustrates the importance of the scaffold behind them with many potent similarities and differences.
Although Christopher McCandless was intelligent young man, he could’ve been a little more considerate of the fact that he wouldn’t be able to survive in the wild. To be able to survive without civilization, it requires experience and awareness of what’s to be expected. Christopher McCandless was not familiar with this type of environment, therefore he couldn’t survive. He was brave and fearless leaving everything behind and burning most of his belongings. Starting over is a hard thing to do, but getting rid of your old self may not be the best idea.
The first scaffold scene focuses on Hester and the scarlet letter. Hawthorne is using this to show the value of Hester's public humiliation, the baby, and the letter A. Hawthorne states,” She ascended a flight of wooden steps, and was thus displayed to the surrounding
The first scaffold scene takes place at the very beginning of the story. In this particular scene, Hester has moments before walked from the prison door carrying her baby and donning the scarlet letter, which stands for adultery. She must make this procession in front of the entire town. After the march, Hester is forced to stand alone on the scaffold until an hour past noon.
Hawthorne symbolizes the scaffold as being a symbol of “sin and public shame”. In The Scarlet Letter (Hawthorne Pg #65), Hawthorne calls the scaffold, “A miserable eminence.” Clearly stating that the scaffold does not symbolize a good thing, but a negative idea, and if someone is on it, they are going to feel that miserable type of shame feeling. The scaffold is suppose to make someone feel guilt as they stands on it and let everyone look at them judge them. Like, in The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne has to stand on the scaffold and let everyone look at her a judge her with the big red “A” on her chest. Hawthorne made it easy to symbolize the scaffold by leaving well explained context clues.
Many economic systems exist in the movie A Respectable Trade. Capitalism is present, as the Cole’s hire their cook and pay her for her time. Self – Employment also exists as one witnesses through the doctor. The economic system in which the plot revolves around is Slavery. Mr. Cole tries to earn a fortune in the business of slave trade. His wife, Francis, is ordered to teach them to assimilate into European culture by teaching them English, dressing them in new cloths and re-naming them. As the film progresses, so does Mr. Cole’s greed and arrogance increases. He begins to act superior and to dominate the household. Many slave owners including Mr. Cole began to engrain these feelings into their culture, to be carried through generations.
Many economic systems are revealed in A Respectable Trade: Slavery, Feudalism, Self-Employment, and Capitalism. England in 1788 was entering a period of economic transition. Viewing this finite period in A Respectable Trade allows us, as economists, to dissect the different market systems prevalent during that time.
D.H. Lawrence makes many sarcastic remarks about the adulteress, including the statement, “put her upon the scaffold and worship her there” (Lawrence). He mocks the way Nathaniel Hawthorne praises Hester because he finds the situation to be much bigger than Hawthorne does. Although standing on the scaffold is a punishment, Lawrence tries to make a joke of it and mock Hawthorne’s attitude. Hester commits a crime that is completely illegal and essentially is praised for her actions; however, Lawrence believes that she is still a criminal, which is why mocks the scene where Hester is put on the scaffold. His sarcastic statement is mocking Hawthorne’s worship towards the sinner. His derision continues when the scarlet letter almost loses its importance of meaning and he comments “go home and dance a witch’s jig of triumph, and stitch yourself a Scarlet Letter…” (Lawrence). Lawrence ridicules Hawthorne with his satirical language about making their own scarlet letter because the letter “A” is not something to be proud of, yet he uses it to mock the author. D.H. Lawrence utilizes a harsh mocking tone when joking about the letter on Hester’s bosom because it seems that Hawthorne frequently changes the meaning of the “A” to make it seem less harsh. The sarcastic comments
Homelessness can result from children running away, being abandoned by parents, extreme poverty within the family and/or unsafe/unstable living conditions. Being in situations where a child has worry about where they are going to sleep or where there next meal may come from gives them little time, if any, to focus or even think about attending school. In addition, attending school means a need for the upkeep of personal hygiene, having clean clothes and most importantly transportation to and from school, which can add more stress to a child outside of the fact they are homeless. Not having these things causes high levels of depression, anxiety and low self-esteem. Th...
There are millions of homeless youth in America. On any given night, you can find these children ducking into abandoned buildings, crammed up against alley dumpsters, curled inside the big yellow slide of a local playground. I imagine they are thankful for sleep, wary of a new day, but thankful nonetheless. Homelessness at such a young age if left alone, leads to increased rates of conflict. The more homeless youths now, the more our country as a whole will have to deal with divorce, mental illness, and the need for government assistance.
Homelessness is a widespread issue that in recent years has only worsened with the downturn in the economy and a never-ending war. Of this very vulnerable population however there is within an even more vulnerable population, the children affected by homelessness. We as a society need to understand why homelessness in childhood happens, and understand how drastically it effects children’s development overall. We must gain a better understanding of the specific issues arising from homelessness in childhood; Physical; Psychological; and Academic to understand how to minimize and reverse those effects of childhood homelessness.
"No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude without finally becoming bewildered as to which may be true”. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, this quote applies to the two main characters of the novel. It applies to Arthur Dimmesdale in a literal way; he clearly is not the man that he appears to be, and the guilt that goes along with such deception consumes his entire life. The quote also applies to Hester Prynne, but in quite a different way because it was not her choice to wear the “face” that she was forced to wear. The mark of the scarlet letter on her bosom determined how others perceived her and, in turn, how she was expected to perceive herself. At first, Hester did not consider the sin that she committed as blasphemous and horrible as the people of Boston did, but she was forced to wear the “face” of a sinner.
A symbol is an object used to stand for something else. Symbolism has a hidden meaning lying within it; these meanings unite to form a more detailed theme. Symbolism is widely used in The Scarlet Letter to help the reader better understand the deep meanings Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays throughout his novel. He shows that sin, known or unknown to the community, isolates a person from their community and from God. Hawthorne also shows this by symbols in nature around the town, natural symbols in the heavens, and nature in the forest.
The information provided by the National Homeless Coalition (2009) regarding “why are people homeless” confirmed my notion that the increasing struggles in our economy has resulted in an increase in homelessness. The surprising factor that I neglected to visualize was the impact it had on children and families. When people think about the homeless, they often envision older adults on the streets. It is too painful to imagine that children are on the streets without food, water, or shelter. One family that I had the chance to work together with was with a mother and her three children. She had two daughters, ages 11 and 9 and a boy who was 2 years old. She is currently without a job and lives with her mother temporarily. She is one of the fortunate ones that have family members supporting her, but there were other stories of families living in cars and streets because of no support.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, there are many moral and social themes develped throughout the novel. Each theme is very important to the overall effect of the novel. In essence, The Scarlet Letter is a story of sin, punishment and the importance of truth. One theme which plays a big role in The Scarlet Letter is that of sin and its effects. Throughout the novel there were many sins committed by various characters. The effects of these sins are different in each character and every character was punished in a unique way. Two characters were perfect examples of this theme in the novel. Hester Prynne and The Reverend Dimmesdale best demonstrated the theme of the effects of sin.