The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is characterized by three major events that occur on the town scaffold. What takes place on this platform will determine the fate, which the three main characters, Hester Prynne, Mr. Arthur Dimmesdale, and their daughter Pearl will follow. The three scenes mark the beginning, middle, and end of their sinful fate. The scaffold is the platform where convicted criminals are punished for their wrongdoings in front of ... , and Chillingworth were able to find that there place of punishment lead them to a life filled of forgiveness and peace. The Scarlet L...

• Word Count: 739
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Arthur Dimmesdale has a difficult time finding a way to relieve his sin. The Scarlet Letter's scaffold holds more importance than just somewhere to condemn prisoners, and, for Dimmesdale, it is a place to find peace. It is the one place where Dimmesdale felt liberated to say anything he wished. In Puritan culture, the scaffold is used to humiliate and discipline 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...

• Word Count: 723
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... much more appealing if authors let their readers make their own decisions about the events or characters in the story. The ambiguousness of The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne leaves many of the actions, events, and issues involving the characters up to the reader's own assumption. One of the issues posed by Hawthorne during the story is that of responsibility. Hawthorne illustrates that the lack of responsibility is harmful and should be held with contempt through ... the character Arthur Dimmesdale, the unholy minister whose guilt of being an adulterer eventually kills him. Haw...

• Word Count: 1146
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... Chillingworth, Hester's anonymous husband, caused the destruction of his character and inevitable death. The story dealt a great deal with the idea of sin, the punishment that comes from it, and the repentance that some undergo to cleanse themselves of that sin. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, the author uses the scaffold scenes to depict the idea of private versus public sin. The first scaffold scene establishes the tone for the novel. Here, Hester Prynne is ... taken before her Puritan town from the prison. On her bosom she bears the scarlet A for "adultery" and in her ar...

• Word Count: 1460
• Approx Pages: 6

In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses many different objects and people as symbols to express his message throughout the book. He begins using a plant, then the namesake of the book, then continues on to uses two people as symbols to get his message across. Although seemingly simple, all of these symbols are extremely complex, and used in a multitude of ways. First, the rosebush outside the prison; in the first chapter ... that Satan is using him as a tool to commit evil acts. Even when Dimmesdale admits to being the father, Chillingsworth is not satisfied that he did not get to exe...

• Word Count: 777
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... symbolism. One example is the S on Superman's uniform, which symbolizes him being "super." In "The Scarlet Letter," Hester Prynne is sent to America alone to wait for her husband to come back from Europe. While she is waiting she becomes pregnant with her minister. In the Puritan days the punishment for adultery was to wear a big, scarlet colored "A" on the chest. Nathaniel Hawthorne creates the symbol of the letter "A" to have meaning more ... than just adulterer. As the novel unfolds, the letter "A" on Hester Prynne's bosom ... ...

• Word Count: 571
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... truth to common place reality, especially as found in natural scenes". Nathaniel Hawthorne was an anti-transcendentalist and believed in the dark side of man, hence his dark romantic novel The Scarlet Letter. This allegorical novel depends heavily on symbol and character. The novel is chock full of symbolic dimension of images, characters, and descriptions. The Scarlet Letter defines the American Romanticist movement while using symbolic characters and places that give ... the book seemingly two different stories. The first story denotes the story going on in the book, including the cha...

• Word Count: 1687
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, there are many characters that transform; one of them is Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale committed a great sin of the puritan society, he slept with another mans wife and Hester Prynne became pregnant. Hester was punished for her sin but Arthur Dimmesdale had not admitted to it, so he lives ... finally relieved himself of guilt after seven years of letting this eat away at him and torment him. The people still saw him as a great man and he was never really seen as a dirty man. In The Scarlet Letter by...

• Word Count: 1308
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... of pride and inner beauty. Not long after this story was published, did women start rebelling against their so-called "position" in society. Hester would have been very proud. The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is an amazing story of Hester's strength in exposing and accepting her sin, choosing to wear bold apparel, and helping Dimmesdale deal with his inner conflict. She is truly a model ... for advocates of the early women's right movement. Although the scarlet letter burned a hole to her heart, Hester wears it and never denies it, which shows a true strength from within. Whe...

• Word Count: 1678
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter first appears as a beautiful and defiant young woman, but as the story progresses Hester matures and becomes devoted and strong. The story is set in the early Puritanical colony of Boston. Hester Prynne is charged with the crime and sin of adultery, bears an illegitimate child, is made to stand on a scaffold to be publicly ostracized, and made to wear a scarlet A on her chest for the ... many trials. Nathaniel Hawthorne gives an excellent example of how people mature and change and how their life experiences affect them. Hester's experiences made h...

• Word Count: 785
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... one's shadow-self lead to self-reliance? The nature of sin exists internally and externally and affects one's state of mind. Set in the mid 17th century, the three scaffold scenes developed by Nathaniel Hawthorne in The Scarlet Letter depict the moral, emotional and psychological effects of Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth. Also, the Scarlet letter "A" that Hester is obligated to wear affects ... her persona and shadow self along with the community in which she lives. Each scene exemplifies the theme of sin along with the nature of ... this change is expressed w...

• Word Count: 1995
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote The Scarlet Letter in 1850, many years after the demise of the New England Puritan society that his novel attacks. The novel follows the struggles of two sinners in the morally strict Massachusetts Bay Colony in the seventeenth century. A young woman named Hester Prynne and the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale commit adultery. Hester's sin becomes publicly acknowledged when she has a child; she is forced face humiliation by standing on a scaffold in ... path, embodied by Hester in the novel, brings challenges that can be overcome and the potential to prosper again. The sec...

• Word Count: 891
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne strategically structures the story around three very crucial scaffold scenes. In the first scaffold scene, Hester comes out of the dark prison to accept her punishment. She holds her daughter, Pearl, in her arms as she stands on the scaffold. Reverend Dimmesdale stands in the crowd and watches as they taunt her. She then, notices her husband, Roger Chillingworth, in the crowd. When the townspeople ask who the ... , she says that Pearl will not know an earthly father, only a heavenly one. Chillingworth vows to find out the father and get his revenge...

• Word Count: 443
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... around three main scaffold scenes. It was brilliantly designed by the author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, so that the first scaffold scene contains the introduction, the second contains the climax, and the third contains the conclusion. The first scene, however, truly captures the essence of the book. The first scaffold scene in The Scarlet Letter is the most important, because it introduces the plot, shows the pressures of a Puritan society and the type of strong-willed character Hester Prynne is. It is ... very difficult to read a book, not knowing any information about it. The ... ...

• Word Count: 711
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... sense of having done something wrong, improper or immodest. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter, Arthur Dimmesdale struggles to overcome sin, guilt, and public shame in Puritan society. Arthur Dimmesdale reveals his guilt and shame towards the end of the novel when Hester and Pearl stand with him on the scaffold while he confesses his sin to the townspeople. To feel shame or guilt, one must have a clean ... any effort of his will, or power to restrain himself, he shrieked aloud" (Hawthorne 153). With a guilty conscience, Dimmesdale's mental health suffers, along with his a...

• Word Count: 939
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses three scenes on the scaffold to emphasize suffering and torment in Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale. Throughout the book, the scaffold has been the symbol of puritan society's harsh punishment for sinners. The three scaffold scenes in The Scarlet Letter convey the theme of sin not being tolerated whatsoever in Puritan Society. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale is tormented throughout the story and in all three scenes with the scaffold. In the second ... for Dimmesdale's future haunting. Dimmesdale's years of anguish include clutching his chest, wher...

• Word Count: 598
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... present truthfulness in various, common everyday situations, ranging from strong moral values among friends to those of the ones you love. Nathaniel Hawthorne presented to readers how valuable telling and concealing truths may be by his compelling novel, The Scarlet Letter. His fictional characters parallel to roles of those enduring heart-pounding punishments for denying truths of those that ... the everyday person can encounter. Almost always, people find love in forbidden places. The Scarlet letter places essential characters in representation of ... identity. Although Chillingsworth...

• Word Count: 1026
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

The Scarlet Letter In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses three scaffold scenes to demonstrate an underlying theme of sin revealed, sin concealed. If hidden, sin will destroy, but if revealed sin can make a person stronger. The first scaffold scene depicts Hester and her child on a scaffold in front of the townspeople of Boston. For Hester, this forces her to reveal her sin. Because Hester reveals her sin, she becomes a stronger ... , "Wilt thou stand here with mother and me, tomorrow noontide?" (Ch. XII), because Dimmesdale replies no. Pearl then laughs and becomes disgusted with the...

• Word Count: 541
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

In this novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne has made two characters that are hiding something, a sin. Hawthorne makes great descriptions of what the characters are feeling and how it is reflecting on their physical appearance's. Chillingworth is one of the characters and the other is Dimmesdale. Chillingworth is Hester's husband who was captured by Indians for two years. While he was gone, his wife Hester, had an affair with Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. When he returns, Hester sees Chillingworth in the crown while she is on the scaffold. He meets up with her later and tells her not to tell anyone who...

• Word Count: 438
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

Looking Deeper Into the Scarlet Letter The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, was a well written book. It was difficult reading, but a good lesson is taught. It is not just a book dealing with the topic of sin. It goes much deeper. It talks about choices and life, and what the choices cause. Before the class discussion, I enjoyed the book, but did not feel there was any other symbolism than the scarlet "A" representing Hester's sin. The discussion helped ... me too understand much more about the novel than I had previously imagined. Through the discussion, I was able to see how each chara...

• Word Count: 702
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

In the novel, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale has committed the sin of adultery with Hester Prynne. The story begins with Hester coming out of a jail and being put on the scaffold for the sin she has committed with the cursed child in hand. The town is ashamed at her for this horrible act but they do not know who she has committed the crime with. Ironically, Reverend Dimmesdale asks ... his mind he physically abuses himself. Because of the guilt that Chillingworth has brought out of Dimmesdale, The Reverend becomes mentally unstable. He begins to have vis...

• Word Count: 735
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

"The Scarlet Letter" was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1850. He was a very famous author, who was born in 1804 in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. The setting of the story takes place in the puritan colony of Massachusetts. The scaffold scene was set in the marketplace during the seventeenth century. However the novel opened with a prison setting foreshadowing the future, hiding sadness and comdemption of Chillingworth. Chillingworth's obsession of discovering the truth ... Eventually Dimmesdale confesses his love for Hester to the whole town on the scaffold. After he confesses, he colla...

• Word Count: 443
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

Importance of the Three Scaffold Scenes In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, there are three very important scenes that all take place at the town scaffold. The scaffold is a place of great shame in the Puritan society in which the story takes place. These three scenes represent how Revrend Dimmesdale changes over the course of the story. At first he denies is sin, then he reluctantly accepts it, and finally in the third scene ... decide to leave Salem together. This scene is also proof that Dimmesdale is still a coward. Although he admits to himself his sin, he still cannot face the...

• Word Count: 729
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

THE BIGGEST SINNER In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, sin was a very evident factor throughout the novel. It heavily affected the lives of Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth, the three main characters. Though they were all sinners, Dimmesdale's sins stood out more boldly than that of Hester's or Chillingworth's, for his first sin with Hester lead him to commit other sins and in the end that made Dimmesdale the ... greatest sinner in the ... and unforgivable. In addition to being a sinful minister, Dimmesdale is also a coward. He allowed Hester to suffer the consequences of the ...

• Word Count: 869
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale: Not A Hero As a main character in Nathaniel Hawthorne's tale of "The Scarlet Letter", the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale is confronted with circumstances both in and out of his control, that lead to his demise. Even though it can be argued that Reverend Dimmesdale is a tragic hero, he lacks the strength and underlying goodness essential for him to fulfill this role. ... out, "She will not speak!" and places his hand, for the first time, over his heart. This gesture will reappear and grow in significance during the course of the novel. However, this is also the same gest...

• Word Count: 2932
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: High School