The Scaffold Scenes in Nathaniel Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter Essay

The Scaffold Scenes in Nathaniel Hawthornes The Scarlet LetterIn Nathaniel Hawthorne?s The Scarlet Letter, the Puritans constantly look down upon sinners like Hester Prynne, twain literally and symbolically. The use of the deuce-ace scaffold facial expressions throughout the course of the myth proved to be an effective method in proving this theory and presentation 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 immature 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 endorser 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 feature 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 curse already swelling within him, blackening his soul.The events leading up to the abutting scaffold scene, some years later, are some of the most remarkable 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 slight than pure. Chillingworth is bent on revenge, and is willing to do anything necessary, even destroy other man?s life in order to soothe the unwarranted beast within. However, deep inside Chillingworth?s... ...t and withdrawn, as if all the life and religion he had in the world had been drained out of him.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 the m 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 on a lower floor gawked. It serves as an important symbol throughout the novel setting by the sinners and those who would judge them.