... are Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale, both bearers of a Scarlet Letter of Adultery, one public and one private. Hester Prynne, the bearer of the scarlet letter in public, is the central character of the book. However, the suspense of the story revolves around Dimmesdale and his private mark of adultery. Antagonist The antagonist is the effort to hide the identify of the male adulterer, who is Pearl's father. Both Hester and Dimmesdale fight to ... he finds Dimmesdale's glove on the scaffold, he returns it to the minister and blames the devil for having dropped it there. He refers to ...

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

The Scarlet Letter is a book revealing lives of sin, social identity, and humanity. The story displays some of the darkest elements of the human soul: guilt, revenge, and evil. With its complex, emotional plot and its rich symbolism, this masterpiece has become a highly prized classic in American literature. The book opens with a chapter called "The Custom House," in which the narrator of the book writes a long description recalling his days as the ... the brook in the forest, and Pearl tries to catch some of the transitory sunshine in the forest. Strangely, the sunshine seems to avoid Hester...

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

... awe, yet with reverence too." ( Hawthorne 260). The scarlet letter also forges a link between the characters. Pearl, for instance, can't see her mother without it; the scarlet letter had become a part of her mother. The scaffold is another important symbol in the novel. It symbolizes Judgment Day and repentance. Hawthorne uses it whenever the plot takes a shift, as a sort of turning point, "each of the scaffold scenes brings together in a moment of ... moral, emotional, and psychological tension the major characters and forces of the story" (Martin 109). At the beginning, the scaffold i...

• Word Count: 2338
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• 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 first scaffol...

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

... 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 ... his revenge, and withers away to nothing in a short time. In Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, there are many more than just t...

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

... a life ahead of her. The final scaffold scene is a powerful conclusion to the end of the novel. Hawthorne perfectly structures The Scarlet Letter around the three scaffold scenes. In each scene Dimmesdale is closer and closer to his confession. The first is the introduction to the novel, the second is the climax of the novel and the third is the conclusion to the novel. The first scene, located in the first few pages of the book, Hester reveals her ... Dimmesdale tries to tell her he sincerely wants her to reveal his name. She does this in the light of day in front of all the townspeopl...

• Word Count: 1498
• Approx Pages: 6
• 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 ... it would be too late to be saved anyway. This scene is also important to the chraracterization of Hester because it is the first time that she is not in complete c...

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

... 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 for ... ...

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