The Scaffold's Power in The Scarlet Letter
Recurring events show great significance and elucidate the truth beneath
appearances. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne chooses the scaffold
scenes to show powerful differences and similarities. Each scaffold scene
foreshadows the next and brings greater understanding of the novel. By
beginning with the first, continuing with the middle, and ending with the last
platform scene, we can gain a better understanding of this masterpiece.
At the beginning of the book, Hester is brought out with Pearl to stand on
the scaffold. Here the scarlet letter is revealed to all. Reverend Dimmesdale,
Pearl's Father, is already raised up on a platform to the same height as Hester
and Pearl; and Roger Chillingworth, Hester's lost husband, arrives, stands below
and questions the proceedings. As Hester endures her suffering, Dimmesdale is
told to beseech the woman to confess. It was said "So powerful seemed the
ministers appeal that the people could not believe but that Hester Prynne would
speak out the guilty name." His powerful speech shows Dimmesdale's need to
confess. This scene sets the stage for the next two scenes.
A few years later the event is again repeated. It is very similar to the
other and helps us understand the torment of Dimmesdale. As before the
tortured Reverend Dimmesdale goes first on to the platform. He seeks a
confession of his sins a second time by calling out into the night. He then
sees Hester and Pearl coming down the street from the governor's house. As
before, they are asked to go up on the scaffold and be with the minister. At
this time Pearl questions the minister if he will do this at noontide and he
answers no. He once again is too much of a coward to confess out in the open.
The similarities continue with a revelation of another scarlet letter. Up in
the sky a scarlet "A" shines forth. Roger Chillingworth arrives and tells the
minister to get down from the scaffold. Chillingworth pleads for this so that
he can still torment the reverend. As the two men leave, the scene ends and
leaves us with additional information. It foreshadows a bigger and more
in her letter in the same way they look at the way Hester lets Pearl do
As a living reminder of Hester’s extreme sin, Pearl is her constant companion. From the beginning Pearl has always been considered as an evil child. For Hester to take care of such a demanding child, put lots of stress onto her life. Hester at times was in a state of uncontrollable pressure. “Gazing at Pearl, Hester Prynne often dropped her work upon her knees, and cried out with an agony which she would fain have hidden, but which made utterance for itself, betwixt speech and a groan, ‘O Father in heaven- if Thou art still my Father- what is this being which I have brought into the world!’” (Hawthorne, 77).
Pearl is not only a symbol of Hester but also a symbol to Dimmsdale. Pearl will not let him into her life until he accepts his sin. She wants him as a father but will not let him until he will not hide his sin in public. Pearl knows that Dimmsdale will not be seen holding her hand in the public eye and this bothers her. She asks her mother, " wilt tho promise to hold my and thy mothers hand to-morrow?"(105)
Dante came a long way in reaching the lower part of Hell in the “Inferno” to not be to be highly satisfied with what he experienced from seeing, hearing, reflecting, and questioning. Throughout the journey we can see that Dante had two sides to him the one in which his felt sympathy for the sinners and felt frightened along the way and the other Dante in which he judgment that the sinners should have a more cruel punishment. Dante encountered many challenges as he progressed to each level.
Pearl has a childish innocence that leads her to asking Dimmesdale and Hester several questions, which raise the inquiry of the actual meanings of the questions. Pearl asks, “Wilt thou stand here with mother and me, to-morrow noontide?” (Hawthorne 139). It has a huge significance to it because Pearl is in a sense asking the minister if Dimmesdale will confess his sin to the town on the scaffolding the next day at noon. If he does not, Pearl is not willing to accept him. Pearl also asks her mother what the letter “A” means out of curiosity, and also why the minister always keeps his hand over his heart. Of course, her mother is not willing to answer and cleverly dodges the question by telling Pearl that she was asking silly questions. When Hester and Pearl walk past Chillingworth and Dimmesdale’s home, Pearl sees the men and points at Chillingworth. She says to her mother, “Come away mother! Come away, or yonder old Black Man will catch you! He hath got hold of the minister already! Come away, mother, or he will catch you!” (Hawthorne 122). Pearl sees Chillingworth, and somehow sees the evil within him. She sees that his evil has already captured Dimmesdale. Pearl seems to have cl...
Symbolism can be found all throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. While most of the symbolism in his work may subtle, it all plays a large role in his novel. Symbolism is often defined as something, like an object, that represents something else or an idea. One may even say he overuses symbolism in his work, “The Scarlet Letter”, but the meaning of his symbols change throughout the novel. For example, the letter “A” has one meaning in the beginning, but it changes a few times by the end novel. Some of the major forms of symbolism within “The Scarlet Letter” are the letter “A”, Pearl, and the Arthur Dimmesdale.
Inferno, the first part of Divina Commedia, or the Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri, is the story of a man's journey through Hell and the observance of punishments incurred as a result of the committance of sin. In all cases the severity of the punishment, and the punishment itself, has a direct correlation to the sin committed. The punishments are fitting in that they are symbolic of the actual sin; in other words, "They got what they wanted." (Literature of the Western World, p.1409) According to Dante, Hell has two divisions: Upper Hell, devoted to those who perpetrated sins of incontinence, and Lower Hell, devoted to those who perpetrated sins of malice. The divisions of Hell are likewise split into levels corresponding to sin. Each of the levels and the divisions within levels 7,8, and 9 have an analogous historical or mythological figure used to illustrate and exemplify the sin.
Dante’s Inferno presents the reader with many questions and thought provoking dialogue to interpret. These crossroads provide points of contemplation and thought. Dante’s graphic depiction of hell and its eternal punishment is filled with imagery and allegorical meanings. Examining one of these cruxes of why there is a rift in the pits of hell, can lead the reader to interpret why Dante used the language he did to relate the Idea of a Just and perfect punishment by God.
In "A Midsummer Night's Dream," William Shakespeare explains the difficulties of the nature of love. Both false love and true love prevail in the end, leading the reader to come to the conclusion that all types of love can triumph. Hermia and Lysander represent the existence of a "true love", while Helena and Demertrius represent the opposite extreme. Shakespeare presents the idea that love is unpredictable and can cause great confusion. Love is something that cannot be explained, it can only be experienced. Shakespeare challenges us to develop our own idea of what love truly is.
Dante Alighieri presents a vivid and awakening view of the depths of Hell in the first book of his Divine Comedy, the Inferno. The reader is allowed to contemplate the state of his own soul as Dante "visits" and views the state of the souls of those eternally assigned to Hell's hallows. While any one of the cantos written in Inferno will offer an excellent description of the suffering and justice of hell, Canto V offers a poignant view of the assignment of punishment based on the committed sin. Through this close reading, we will examine three distinct areas of Dante's hell: the geography and punishment the sinner is restricted to, the character of the sinner, and the "fairness" or justice of the punishment in relation to the sin. Dante's Inferno is an ordered and descriptive journey that allows the reader the chance to see his own shortcomings in the sinners presented in the text.
Love, lust and infatuation all beguile the senses of the characters in this dreamy and whimsical work of Shakespeare, and leads them to act in outlandish ways, which throughly amuses the reader. True love does prevail in the end for Hermia and Lysander, and the initial charm of infatuation ends up proving to have happy consequence for Helena and Demetrius as well. Even when at first the reader thinks that, in theory, the effects the potion will wear off and Lysander will once again reject Helena, Oberon places a blessings on all the couples that they should live happily ever after.
Love plays a very significant role in this Shakespearian comedy, as it is the driving force of the play: Hermia and Lysander’s forbidden love and their choice to flee Athens is what sets the plot into motion. Love is also what drives many of the characters, and through readers’ perspectives, their actions may seem strange, even comical to us: from Helena pursuing Demetrius and risking her reputation, to fairy queen Titania falling in love with Bottom. However, all these things are done out of love. In conclusion, A Midsummer Night’s Dream displays the blindness of love and how it greatly contradicts with reason.
Pearl is an offspring of sin whose life revolves around the affair between her mother and Reverend Dimmesdale. Due to her mother's intense guilt during her upbringing, she is not able to become more than a mirror image of her surroundings; like a chameleon, she mimics everything around her, and the changes that occur externally affect her internally. Pearl stands out as a radiant child implicated by the sin of her parents. Without a doubt, if Pearl hadn't been born and such a burden had not been put upon Hester, she would have experienced a life without visible ridicule. It is only when the sin is publicly revealed that she is liberated by the truth.
When Pearl was first born, Hester names her in reference to a bible verse. Hawthorne states, “she named the infant ‘Pearl’ as being of great price—purchased with all she had—her mother’s only treasure” (41). This biblical relation reveals that Hester still had good morals, and that Pearl would later be worth the price and pain that Hester endured. This statement is later proved at the end of the book, when Pearl is an adult. “Pearl—the elf-child—the demon offspring, as some people, up to that epoch, persisted in considering her—became the richest heiress of her day” (126). Pearl earned all of the things her mother had lacked in her sad and outcasted life, and she rewarded her mother with her achievements. Pearl was similar to her mom in a way that she challenged the rules and came out on top. Her adult life was the life of a woman Hester strived to be, but lacked the opportunity to achieve due to her sin. This proves that Pearl represents Hester’s grace, all of the good qualities Hester possessed.
Her attitude in the beginning of the story was shameful, but she gained strength and became a strong, wise woman. Hester did not realize that the hardest things she had to face, were what made her strong. A negative way of life and actions transformed into a positive and strong attitude. Once Hester, Pearl and Dimmesdale stood on the scaffold, she found the pride, peace and