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Scarlet Letter


             Hawthorne frames The Scarlet Letter around three scaffold scenes in the beginning, middle and end of the novel; each scene occurs on different occasions and at different times. In all three scenes, however, the main characters Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth are united. The scenes become more intense as the involvement and interaction of each character progress. .
             The first scaffold scene begins on an early summer morning. The reader is introduced to the three main characters and a physical description of each. Hester leaves the prison and walks through the marketplace to assume her position on the scaffold for her sentence of public humiliation. The Reverend Dimmesdale allows Hester the chance to repent in order to save her soul, but she refuses, "I will not speak! And my child must seek a heavenly Father; she shall never know an earthly one-(1342). While Dimmesdale awaited her appeal, he placed his hand over his heart "a habit the reader will recognize further through the novel. .
             The second scaffold scene occurs seven years later at night. Out of remorse and seven years of private penance, Dimmesdale makes his way to the scaffold and stands in the cool night air. Unlike Hester, however, he has no audience, and even if someone were to see him, they would not recognize him in the darkness. This scene is a slight progression toward the final one, for Dimmesdale invites Hester and Pearl to stand with him. Pearl asks him to stand with them the following day, but Dimmesdale cannot commit to tomorrow, "Another time . . . Before the judgment seat, thy mother, and thou, and I must stand together! But the daylight of this world shall not see our meeting-(1389). Thus, not yet strong enough, the minister leaves with Chillingworth, who "happened- to be passing by.
             On Election Day, Reverend Dimmesdale preached about a "high and glorious destiny for the newly gathered people of the Lord.


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