The Scaffold Scenes in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter
In Nathaniel Hawthorne?s The Scarlet Letter, the Puritans constantly look down upon sinners like Hester Prynne, both literally and symbolically. The use of the three scaffold scenes throughout the course of the novel proved to be an effective method in proving this theory and showing how Puritan society differs from that of today?s.
In the first scaffold scene, Hester is being led from the prison where she has spent the last few months, towards the scaffold clutching her newborn baby to her bosom, covering the scarlet letter-the two symbols representing truth and her lost innocence. She stands on the scaffold, with the magistrates and ministers standing above her on the pulpit, symbolizing that they will always be closer to God than she will ever be, however, the reader is unaware that Hester?s minister, Arthur Dimmesdale, who also stands above her on the pulpit, which is a bit of dramatic irony, considering the fact that he is the father of the infant, and her accomplice in her sin. Also during this scene, the man the reader comes to know as Roger Chillingworth hides in the shadows, looking up at Hester, the evil already swelling within him, blackening his soul.
The events leading up to the next scaffold scene, some years later, are some of the most significant scenes in the entire novel. The treatment of Dimmesdale by Chillingworth, who Dimmesdale had taken in as his physician, plays a key role, due to the fact that Chillingworth?s intentions are less than pure. Chillingworth is bent on revenge, and is willing to do anything necessary, even destroy another man?s life in order to soothe the savage beast within. However, deep inside Chillingworth?s...
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...t and withdrawn, as if all the life and faith he had in the world had been drained out of him. It is in this scene that Dimmesdale finally recognizes Hester and Pearl publicly, he takes them up upon the scaffold with him, and announces to the world what he has done, and through this he feels that he has suffered enough and that his conscience is clear, and with this he dies and goes to Heaven, a soul that has been forgiven, leaving Hester and Pearl alone once again with their grief, and their sin.
These three scaffold scenes display the rise of conflict, the climax, and the conclusion. All three tie together to show a common theme, truth. The scaffold and those who stood upon it stood for truth, while those above them judged and those below gawked. It serves as an important symbol throughout the novel setting apart the sinners and those who would judge them.
In this scene Hester and Dimmesdale plan on leaving Boston and going back to England. Hester also tears off her scarlet letter showing that she will no longer need to wear it when they leave. Doing this makes Pearl upset because she has never seen her mother without the scarlet letter on. This scene shows the reader that they both still love each other despite what they have been through. In this scene Hester tells Dimmesdale who Roger Chillingworth really is which is important because they can fight back as explained when this article says “This chapter is a turning point in the novel in several ways. Foremost, Hester Prynne and Mr. Dimmesdale are now both aware of Roger Chillingworth’s intentions and have a plan to counter him”. (Nishihara Chapter
A few years later the event is again repeated. It is very similar to the
In the third and final scaffold scene, Dimmesdale finally reveals his secret to the public. And as "Pearl kissed his lips...a spell was broken," Dimmesdale conquers his guilt and dies right there on the scaffold with an open conscience. He also escapes
She lost all her fiery passion on the scaffold, by which society mocked and watched and she was punished for the sins she committed. The scaffold became the essence of sin and hatred for Hester, Hawthorne created the meaning of this by stating things like the scaffold was “the very ideal of ignominy [and] was embodied and made manifest in this contrivance of wood and iron”. Hester makes her transformation on this scaffold and although she is silent ad still filled with anger, she will never be the same due pain she felt on that scaffold. Through society's punishments and harsh bias, Hester is stripped of all passion and this is continually argued with her change as she wears the scarlet letter. In the beginning, Hester tries to cover it up, but the burn of those eyes who look upon her still stand. ONce in the free spirit environment of the forest and she takes the scarlet A off she becomes happy and passionate once again that even her own daughter doesn’t recognize
In the first scaffold scene Hester Prynne is depicted standing alone while clutching her baby. She has been sentenced to the scaffold for three hours to face public condemnation. In the Puritan society, where this novel is set, public shame is a source of entertainment. On this occasion the townspeople are present to watch the judgment of Hester. As the townspeople are ridiculing her, the narrator is praising Hester for her untamed but lady like beauty (60-61). The narrator goes so far as to compare her to “Divine Maternity” or Mother Mary, the ideal woman, the woman that is looked highly upon by the whole Puritan society (63). However, the conditions are set up to show the change in Hester due to isolation and discredit of the Puritan society. Throughout this scene the Puritans are condemning Hester for her sin as the narrator is condemning the Puritans for their severity.
The Scaffold is not only a high view point the in market place but a site where one can see beyond the restraints of town and even time. For one person, " . . . the scaffold of the pillory was the point of view that revealed to Hester Prynne the entire track which she had been treading since her happy infancy (p65)". The experience of the scaffold has a profound effect on Hester. Living on the border between the town and the forest, she learns new freedom while seeing the conformist repression of the town. Hester sees what the townspeople ignore. She soon believes that because of her punishment on the scaffold and her perpetual reminder of it, the scarlet letter, she sees the sins of the entire townspeople and the hypocrisy of keeping them secret. Thus, her time on the scaffold has made her see the truth of the town and its lies.
That scaffold holds more importance than just somewhere to condemn prisoners. It is the one place where Dimmesdale felt liberated to say anything he wishes. In Puritan culture, the scaffold is used to humiliate and chastise prisoners, be it witches at the stake, thieves in the stocks, or a murderer hanging from the gallows. In The Scarlet Letter, the scaffold was viewed more as a place of judgment. “Meagre ... was the sympathy that a transgressor might look for, from such bystanders, at the scaffold.” (p. 63) Indeed, it was used for castigation, but it was also a place of trial: Hester’s trial was held at the scaffold. Standing upon the platform opens oneself to God and to the world. “They stood in the noon of that strange and solemn splendor, as if it were the light that is to reveal all secrets, and the daybreak that shall unite all who belong to one another.” (p. 186) Being on the scaffold puts oneself in a feeling of spiritual nakedness- where you feel exposed to God, but cleansed. It was the one place where Dimmesdale could find complete reconciliation.
At the beginning of the story, the scaffold “constituted a portion of a penal machine” (48) that completely disgraces the one punished, in this case Hester Prynn. We learn from the crowd that she committed adultery and that the scarlet letter she wore on her bosom is the embodiment of such sin. However, despite her fear of exposing her dishonor to the entire public, Hester showed an extreme amount of self control by hiding her continuous agony under an apparent elegance and beauty. Even when Hester recognized her husband, she did not show her anguish more than by inadvertently squeezing her child. On the other hand, Dimmesdale was completely craven in that scene. Instead of bearing the shame with Hester, since he was the father of the child, Dimmesdale stood high above the scaffold, on the side of “justice.” Although he appeared righteous when he prompted Hester to reveal the name of the other adulterer, his “frightened look” (59) and his “long respiration” (61) after Hester refused to talk betrayed Dimmesdale’s cowardice. Therefore, in this scene, sin was not onl...
Dimmesdale, however late it occurred, did in fact find courage. Hawthorne kept Dimmesdale "confused." Dimmesdale struggled to find an answer, tossing confession and secrecy back and forth. Dimmesdale ."..longed to speak out..." (132), and confess. Chillingworth knew that Dimmesdale did not have the valor to speak out. Taking this into consideration Dimmesdale pondered the situation and came upon a solution. "And there stood the minister, with his hand over his heart;" (141). This showed true courage, which was not expected of Dimmesdale. Ascending the scaffold and embracing his own punishment, Dimmesdale became himself taking consequences for his actions. Dimmesdale struggled to make peace with Pearl. He knew that all she wanted was attention, which could only be cured by confession. In doing so he took it upon himself to attempt forgiveness. ."..to admit him into the child's kindlier regards-bent forward, and impressed one on her brow.
The next area is a symbol in the heavens. This occurs during the second famous scaffold scene. Dimmesdale, Hester, and Pearl are on the scaffold when, “a light gleamed far and wide over all the muffled sky. It was doubtless caused by one of those meteors” (150). “The minister looking upward to the zenith, beheld there the appearance of an immense letter-the letter ‘A’- marked out in lines of dull red light” (152).
He explains that the scaffold that Hester is sentenced to stand upon as punishment is meant to be a comparison to the famous weapon in the French Revolution, the guillotine. Reynolds points out that it was custom in Puritan New England to refer to such places as to where Hester stood as the gallows, not scaffolds. “[…] the central setting of the novel, the scaffold, is, I believe, an historical inaccuracy intentionally used by Hawthorne to develop the theme of revolution” (619). Here he is saying that Hawthorne purposely misused the term in order to spur up themes of revolution. Although he fails to mention Hawthorne’s motive in doing so, it does credibly show the reader that there are possible and deliberate connections made between the French Revolution and The Scarlet
In the third scaffold scene, The paragraph that said Dimmesdale regains his soul, it’s mean Dimmesdale confess his obscure that he is pearl's father he just realized that he should stay with them since last seven years ago but he was not there. He let Hester stay alone for a long time. To relieve his guilt, He tries to punish himself. He lives without eating food and sleep for a long time and he also whips himself on his
Hester realizes what is going on between Dimmesdale and Chillingworth and gains permission from her husband to reveal his true identity to the minister. Dimmesdale is devastated by the news and agrees to flee Boston with Hester and Pearl. He will do anything to escape the hold that Chillingworth has on him. In the end, however, Dimmesdale realizes that he can only be rid of his tormentor by publicly acknowledging his guilt. At the end of the novel, on Election Day, Dimmesdale climbs the scaffold with Hester and Pearl again. This third scaffold scene is in the light of day and before a crowd. With his family at his side, Dimmesdale finally confesses his sin and shows the scarlet "A" on his chest. He then dies peacefully.
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.
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.