... see her learn to use the scarlet letter to her advantage, and respect it. For example: towards the beginning of the novel she fears the scarlet letter and everything it does to her, and as the reader nears the end of the novel they see Hester Prynne and how the whole entire meaning of the scarlet letter has changed from a meaning of "adultery" to the meaning of "able". All of the conflicts in The Scarlet Letter revolve somehow around Hester ... , her former husband, Roger Chillingworth, and the reverend, Arthur Dimmesdale. The conflict circle is ... ...

• Word Count: 914
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... 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 first ... ...

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

... . One reason Hester was alienated was her objection to revealing the other adulterer. When Hester is released from prison and put on the scaffold, she was asked to reveal the name of whom she committed the sin with. Having a heart blinded by love Hester choose to stay in the town and wear the scarlet letter "A" instead of revealing the other adulterer. She faced society only to protect and be ... plain and common. It seemed Hester tried to blend in as much as possible and to go unnoticed. The letter, which was her fate to wear, was exposed to everyone throughout the town. Assuming the en...

• Word Count: 833
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... that part of his sickness was credited to Chillingworth until later. His vigil and meeting with Hester and Pearl in the wee hours of the morning on the scaffold was the turning point of my impression of him. Pearl's role in the story, I felt, was the scarlet letter come to life. This is shown in several ways. She is a product of what Hester's red "A" represents and is ... usually dressed in shades of scarlet. She is described as having elfish qualities about her. Elves are most commonly thought to be mischievous and evil, which are both characteristics of the adultery the scarlet letter...

• Word Count: 1043
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• 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 second scaffold scene ... years of anguish include clutching his chest, where the symbol is located on...

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

... 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 ... 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. It is able to ta...

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

... in front of the townspeople. The first scaffold scene at the significant scaffold is Hester's first public appearance, the following scaffold meeting is with Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl, and the final scaffold scene is Dimmesdale conquering his sin and presenting himself to the townspeople. The first scaffold scene presents not only Hester to the townspeople but her corrupt child and the scarlet letter. The first public appearance ... But, Hester proudly refuses to reveal the name of her fancy man. In refusing to share his name with the townspeople she is banned to wear the scarlet l...

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

... 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 ... ...

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

... they do not take responsibility for it. In The Scarlet Letter, Minister Dimmesdale becomes a greater sinner than the two other main characters, Hester and Chillingsworth, because he does not confess and take the blame for the sin that he committed. In The Scarlet Letter, Minister Dimmesdale has an affair with Hester Prynne, which results in the birth of the baby, Pearl, and leads to the deterioration of Hester's husband, Chillingsworth. For ... honor that ended up being his major downfall, for he loses his sanity, his love, and his livelihood in the dreadful depths of sin. Hester was not...

• Word Count: 898
• Approx Pages: 4
• 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 certain things that would be considere...

• Word Count: 1026
• Approx Pages: 4
• 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

... in 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 Hester in ... that all people have a potential for evil. The scaffold in The Scarlet Letter serves as an important symbol with many different purposes throughout the novel. ...

• Word Count: 917
• Approx Pages: 4
• 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 ... 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 her han...

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

... says that Pearl will not know an earthly father, only a heavenly one. Chillingworth vows to find out the father and get his revenge. Hawthorne also connects Hester's openly displayed shame with Dimmesdale's secret shame by having 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 ... t...

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

... Hester's first 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 wife. Hawthorne says ... twisted itself across his features, like a snake gliding swiftly over them". Minister Dimmesdale is partaking in the persec...

• Word Count: 587
• Approx Pages: 2

... 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, 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 pla...

• Word Count: 723
• Approx Pages: 3
• 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 ... of her condemers, then a humble and able donor to the colony, and finally the daring, wise, and empowered woman who accompanied her fellow sinner to his confession. Hester's l...

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

... 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 ... adulterer eventually kills him. Hawthorne's story begins in seventeenth-century Boston, then a Puritan settlement. A young woman, Hester Prynne, is led from the town prison with ...

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

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

... guilt and destruction. The first path, embodied by Hester in the novel, brings challenges that can be overcome and the potential to prosper again. The second path, taken by the Reverend Dimmesdale, brings nothing but inner torment and pain that seems like it will never cease. Dimmesdale's demise is the best proof of the truth in Hawthorne's message "be true!". The messages in The Scarlet Letter can be adapted to ... fit the myriad of situations in modern life when we are ... faced with the decision of whether or not to be honest. The idea that honesty is the best choice is timeless. ...

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

... 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 character hand...

• 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 ... 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 visions. In one of ...

• 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 ... Eventually Dimmesdale confesses his love for Hester to the whole town on the scaffold. After he confesses, he collapes...

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

... . His preaching grows stronger because he knows sin, but the townspeople see this as him being a God-sent angel. Angelic preachers do not always maintain their status, sometimes they fall. Lucifer had fallen from heaven to hell in the Bible due to his own sinning. He fell to shame as Hester had in The Scarlet Letter. If Dimmesdale were to fall from grace, what would ... the townspeople think? What truth is there if their own minister committed a heinous crime? Boston's angel is a sinner. As ... he sat on the scaffold, Dimmesdale thought about what would happen if he were on the scaffold...

• Word Count: 1021
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorn a woman by the name of Hester Prynne is convicted of adultery. She is sentenced to wearing the letter "A" on her chest for the rest of her life. In the story her husband, Roger Chillingworth, is determined to find the man who is also responsible for this sin. Hester's lover is trying to live with his guilty conscience. The sins of Hester, Dimmesdale and Chillingworth ... pearl grows older and society sees Hester living well and caring so much for her child, they begin to interpret the letter in a different way. "They said that it meant Able; so stro...

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