... meanings of Hester's scarlet letter. Although the sense of the meaning "adulteress" is constant, the metaphoric, emotional, and moralistic meanings of the scarlet letter vary from positive to negative interpretations throughout the novel The Scarlet Letter. The Puritan community was a dark, strict society, feeling indifferent to the humanity of the woman standing before them on the scaffold, with her infant daughter against her chest. The beautifully embroidered letter does not glow in the eyes of the people. The letter shapes the way they look ... at Hester and the way ... ...

• Word Count: 1352
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... Dimmesdale, an older reverend, is watching Hester, and displays a grief for her. Without the knowledge of knowing who these characters are, the book would have been much more difficult. The first scaffold scene acts as a simple but vital introduction to The Scarlet Letter. Puritans are known for their harsh ideals, and despicable judgment on sinners. Hester Prynne is living in a society in which there is no forgiveness ... for sin. She committed one of the most appalling sins of all time (in ... their eyes), adultery. While Hester stood up on the scaffold alone, with her baby, there was...

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

... 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 ... is a "ghastly miracle" (pg. 232) on Dimmesdale's flesh. The original embroidered scarlet letter is th...

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

... grows up into a capricious, precocious, and very observant child. Pearl delights in the scarlet letter and enjoys emphasizing the symbol on her mother's breast. In fact, it is said that when Pearl was a baby, the first feature she noticed about her mother was the scarlet letter on her breast. Pearl is a symbol in the story; she is Hester's salvation, pride, and joy, and also acts as ... eyeing her joyful parents with suspicion. The little girl makes her mother to put the scarlet letter on and put her hair up again before she will cross the riverbank and come to Hester. Afterward, Pearl k...

• Word Count: 3653
• Approx Pages: 15
• Grade Level: High School

... , 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. When she was subjected to standing on the scaffold she held her baby tight as people looked her up and down with disgust (Hawthorne ... such problems for her, she didn't remove it and stood her sentence out despite how embarrassing it must have been. The first thing her darling Pearl noticed when she was born was the scarlet letter...

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• Grade Level: High School

... quiet. Hester was punished for this sin in more than one way. She had to wear a scarlet letter A upon her chest which was nothing compared to the shunning by all of the town and constant sermons directed towards her. Although this is not that bad compared to the pain and torture Dimmesdale goes through. He holds this huge secret inside of him, which does nothing ... would have made Hester's punishment less. They would have stood on the scaffold together in punishment for their sin. Instead he stayed quiet, stood from the ground and watched Hester stand on the scaffold with his baby in h...

• Word Count: 358
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... , is allowed to rise above the gloominess on occasion, as when she throws away the scarlet letter and let's loose her hair. Thus, Hawthorne suggests how sin (symbolized in the scarlet letter) is responsible for the gloom that fills the lives of the protagonists. When the sin is unconfessed, as with Dimmesdale, the darkness turns to despair. Climax The climax occurs at the second scaffold scene, when Dimmesdale stands on the scaffold with Hester and Pearl, finally ... and invites her to join in the festivities when Hester goes to the Governor's house. The Sexton - a worker in Dimmesdale's...

• Word Count: 1929
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... 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 arms she holds the creation of her sin, her daughter Pearl. She ascends ... ...

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... America. People such as Emerson and Thoreau changed the views of the public, with words and actions. The scaffold similarly served as a link for the characters in the Scarlet Letter to separate their ideals from the ideological society in which they lived. Though the role of the scaffold was different, some sort of absolution was always the outcome. As the story begins the scaffold is meant to be a punishment for ... people have a potential for evil. The scaffold in The Scarlet Letter serves as an important symbol with many different purposes throughout the novel. The first scaffold sce...

• Word Count: 917
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... will use a symbol, such as an object, person or idea, in their novels to represent different things. This is referred to as 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 ... a very kind and caring person. Hawthorne uses many elements of symbolism in "The Scarlet Letter." He uses hypocrisy, guilt, and even characters such as Pearl. The letter "A" was obviously the most significant....

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

The movie and book Scarlet Letter have both differences and similarities. This made each better and worse in some ways. Personally I thought the book was a lot better. With the book you can use your imagination. With the movie you already have everything right there in front of you. The movie was boring and didn't have a lot of creativity. Meaning everything seemed dull. For example the setting. It just seemed ... 's sister is also a witch in both. Pearl does not shut up in either about the letter "A". She always asks her mother what it means. She wants to know why her mom has to wear the Scar...

• Word Count: 560
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... this question strongly resembles Hester's openly defiant stature when asked who the father of her baby was during the first scaffold scene. Perhaps the most complex symbol in the book is the most obvious and prevalent one, the books namesake, The Scarlet Letter itself. At its first entrance, the letter is used as a symbol of shame, or grief. The magistrates of the town have placed the letter on Hester's breast as a way to let everyone in ... the town know of her adulterous act. It is meant to be a mark ... ...

• Word Count: 777
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• Grade Level: High School

... century Boston, during a Puritan settlement. It takes place in Salem and Concord, Massachusetts; late 1840. A young woman, Hester Pryne, is led from the town prison with her infant daughter, Pearl, in her arms and the scarlet letter "A" on her breast. A man in the crowd tells an elderly onlooker that Hester is being punished for adultery. Hester's husband, a scholar much older than she is, sent her ahead ... affair, as she has given birth to a child. She will not reveal her lover's identity, however, and the scarlet letter, along with her public shaming, is her punishment for her sin and ...

• Word Count: 1337
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... 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, indeed, and cold was the sympathy that a transgressor might look for from such by-standers, at the scaffold- (Hawthorne 63). Indeed, the scaffold was used for castigation, but it was also a place of ... trial. 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 ...

• Word Count: 723
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• Grade Level: High School

... and the scarlet letter. The first public appearance made by adulteress Hester and her child Pearl are on the scaffold where they are joined by Reverend Dimmesdale does not stand with Hester on the scaffold, instead he stands on the balcony with those who pass judgment on her. During this time, Hester's husband appears; Roger Chillingworth and Reverend Wilson demands the name of Hester's lover. He gives her the chance to "take the scarlet letter off ... , and Chillingworth were able to find that there place of punishment lead them to a life filled of forgiveness and peace. The Scarlet Let...

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

... towards self-reliance and has changed in various ways. The Scarlet Letter begins with the three-hour punishment of Hester Prynne. The first scaffold scene takes place in the market place in front of society. Hester Prynne has been accused of adultery and must expose her sin by standing on the scaffold for three hours. She also must wear an "A" on the front of her dress, which also is representation ... for Dimmesdale and society. Although the society sees the celestial "A" in the sky to represent a conformation of the Governor Winthrop's ascending into heaven, Dimmesdale sees it as his ...

• Word Count: 1995
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• Grade Level: High School

... his unwillingness to tarnish his reputation as the faithful and innocent priest further complicate the matter. He does not know whether to confess or carry on a life of self-punishment. The sin begins to gnaw away at his sanity. As forms of penance he engages in late night vigils, starvation, and very severe self-mutilations. Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Arthur Dimmesdale has many opportunities to ... acknowledge his wrongdoing. He could have confessed during the first scaffold scene as Hester stood in ... betrayal of him coerced him to want to inflict vengeance on the man that seduc...

• Word Count: 898
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... his worst enemy. All of this torture and guilt leads Dimmesdale to create the novel's second scaffold scene. In this scene Dimmesdale mounts the scaffold, clutching his naked breast which held the scarlet letter, permanently etched there. On the scaffold he screamed aloud, without power to restrain himself. He then exclaimed, "It is done, the whole will awake and hurry forth, and find me here." (Hawthorne, ... 103) It seems as though that's what Dimmesdale wanted was the whole town to come see him ... standing there, a sinner. However, the minister is soon greeted ... ...

• Word Count: 1498
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• Grade Level: High School

... them both touch the stop where the scarlet letter is simultaneously. The second scaffold scene, also the climax of the plot, occurs in chapter 12. As a result of his guilt, Dimmesdale mounts the scaffold late one night, while Chillingworth cautiously watches in the darkness nearby. Hester and Pearl, who are out late because she had taken measurements for a funeral robe, climb the scaffold to join him. While on the scaffold, they see ... a meteor in the sky that ... ...

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

... public appearance with her child and the scarlet letter on her bosom. She maintains a confident poise about her, despite the judgement that comes along with standing on the scaffold. Hawthorne's usage of the scaffold depicts Hester's isolation from the Puritans, and illustrates the theme of punishment that is common throughout the novel. Roger Chillingworth is present, watching the sinner upon the scaffold who is secretly his ... features, like a snake gliding swiftly over them". Minister Dimmesdale is partaking in the persecution of Hester by repeatedly questioning who the father of the...

• Word Count: 587
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The Scarlet Letter is a story of characters that have to live and deal with the effects of sin in different ways. Of these characters, the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale is the character portrayed as the most weak and unnoble. Despite this portrayal Dimmesdale was a stronger character than given credit for. His unbelievable amount ... fault for Hesters torment as any common villager, if not even more so. Seven years prior, Hester stood in this place and took the punishment for both of them while he quietly stood aside and led people to believe that he also condemned her. During those long seven ...

• Word Count: 475
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... many images of truth shown in Hawthorne's novel, "The Scarlet Letter." These images give the reader a look into the minds of the characters and a different perspective on the situations at hand. Many of these images show a turning point in the novel, as well. Dimmesdale, Pearl and Hester show the different instances where truth was brought out in society. In the beginning of the novel, there is a scene in which Hester was ... where she has come from. She knows that she is the product of her parents" "sin" and does not hide it. She shows this through her scarlet letter, and she insists o...

• Word Count: 623
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... starts out with Hester in a prison and then they took her out to go and sentence her. They sentenced her to wear the scarlet letter and to stand on the scaffold in front of everyone. She feels that there is a heavy weight of a thousand unrelenting eyes staring at her while she was up there. Another character involved in this scene ... to go and confess. As Hester has the scarlet letter on her bosom, Dimmesdale's holds his heart like a scarlet letter burns in secret there. Hester and Pearl are a couple more of the characters that are involved in this scene. While Dimmesdale was on the s...

• Word Count: 1336
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• Grade Level: High School

... he might have been supposed safer within the line of virtue then if he has never sinned at all." (Pg. 183) The minister kept his secret so sacred to himself that it killed him. Revealing the truth may bring you in much riskier situations, but yet the outcome is always greater on your personal conscience. The Scarlet letter symbolizes these encounters and there outcomes. Hester ... and Dimmesdale's initial falsehood against her husband only brings the husband to shame, but yet kills him. Jealously becomes apart of the husband to find that the man responsible has been ... in front of him ...

• Word Count: 1026
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• Grade Level: High School

... that reminds Pearl of her mother, Hester's scarlet letter "A" By this point in time Hester Prynne's husband has found out about Dimmesdale's secret and has been tormenting Dimmesdale with it. Arthur Dimmesdale has become real pale and looks almost dead and also begins to lose his mind, this is scene on the scaffold. Dimmesdale goes and stands on the scaffold, which is a place of punishment, he ... 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...

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