The Five Most Important Scenes Of The Scarlet Letter

The Five Most Important Scenes of The Scarlet Letter Regarding to The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne once said “It may serve, let us hope, to symbolize some sweet moral blossom, that may be found along the track, or relieve the darkening close of a tale of human frailty and sorrow” (Hawthorne 55). Essentially, this is a story of heartache and grief. The story centers around Hester Prynne and the crime she has committed. She committed adultery and had a child with her adulterer. The other main characters, Chillingworth, Pearl, and Reverend Dimmesdale, along with Hester go through many laborious efforts to be happy and content with their lives and it becomes an overall sadness for everyone involved in this sorrowful story. There are five

These scenes are necessary to the understanding and development of this story and characters.

In the event that Hester is accused of adultery and being punished by wearing the scarlet “A” on her bosom. In the beginning of this scene, everyone is waiting at the oak door of the prison for Hester to come out. Everyone in the crowd was wearing a grimace, implying that this event may be terrible. The crowd knew that a criminal would be revealed, but that crime is unknown until the criminal is on the scaffold being interrogated for their wrongdoing. When someone was discharged from the prison, the townspeople made it a big deal. The populace of the town would take off of their jobs and make a holiday of this day. In the crowd, the people that were most engrossed by this upcoming punishment were the women. These women were plainly ignorant with their ways in the crowd. They were not lady-like in any way. They shoved their way through and pushed

He had previously been Hester Prynne’s husband. He had changed his name for the purpose of living in peace, without being associated with this woman and her crimes and wrongdoings. This man also planned to find revenge on her lover. The scene that portrays this is when Hester and baby Pearl are in jail. Hester is acting insane and the baby is feeling pain. The jailer does not know what to do in order to put this to an end. Roger Chillingworth is the best doctor around, so he tries to help, despite Hester’s betrayal of him. To Hester’s surprise, Chillingworth apologizes for marrying her. He expected her to fall in love with him even though he was much older than her and she was so beautiful. Afterwards, Chillingworth made a vow that he would find the father of the baby. Hester promises to not tell anyone that Chillingworth is the man that was once her husband and the man that she deceived. Chillingworth asked this of her because he did not want to be shamed. If nobody knew who Chillingworth actually was, he could get better revenge on her adulterer. This is a crucial scene because it demonstrates how strongly Chillingworth feels towards Pearl’s father and vividly displays Chillingworth’s yearning to seek revenge on her