Revelations Brought Forth from the Scaffolding Scenes in The Scarlet Letter

Within the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne the imagery of revelation works as a reoccurring theme to bring the reader into the characters view of the incidences going on before them. These ‘revelations’, scattered throughout the story, work as awakenings or realizations of the current situation that the character is presently in or situations they may have to face in the future. All of the characters presented into the story have revelations of some sort. One key discovery theme used in this story is the realization of identification; this is presented as the characters previously thinking they knew somebody and what they stood for, yet they are proved wrong in their beliefs. Another reoccurrence of a theme, used in the story, is the usage of the scaffolding in the center of town to unfold a revelation in the characters lives. The scaffolding situation takes place three times within the story, each time with a different circumstance and a change of the witnesses to the scene; but with a revelation that slightly changes the character from what they were before they stood upon the scaffolding. The first instance when the scaffolding appears is the beginning of the story when Hester Prynne is sentenced to stand upon it, bearing her child and the ominous letter ‘A’, for a set time as her punishment for adultery. This takes place during the day as the entire town is placed before to observe. The second scene of scaffold revelation brings the Reverend Dimmesdale to the top of the platform alone as he attempts to lift the weighty guilt off of his chest. Finally, towards the end of the story, we see Hester, Reverend Dimmesdale, and their child, Pearl standing together in front of the judging crowd. In each of these scenes the revelations captured in that moment by the character or characters remain pivotal parts of story and ultimately of the characters lives.

The first scaffolding scene serves as a revelation to, I believe, everyone in the town. Hester’s crime surely must have touched somebody in the large crowd with a revelation of their own guilt. Shame for a past covered sin or perhaps contempt, as even contempt is a sin that should yield shame, for Hester, herself, was most likely felt in many of the townsfolk that day. Yet, the main revelations coming forth in this scene were brought forth by the realizations of the situations each character found his or herself presently in.