The Scarlet Letter Essay

A man. A man in jail awaiting his great fate sitting in jail just waiting because that is all he can do. He has nothing else that he can do but wait and think about what he has done to get himself in to this position. To fix it? Out of the question. He hears a door slam and footsteps as they walk down a deep empty lonely hall way. The sounds of a key unlock his dungeon door. You hear the creak as the rusty ungreased hinges squeak in agony as the door opens. In steps the bulk of the head prison guard. “Get up” he shouts, “Outside, let’s move.” Stepping outside in the first light seen in months the man covers his eyes because of the brightness. The guard gives a shove as he says, “Let’s move.” The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is filled with symbolic elements. Three very important symbols are the imposing scaffold, alternating letter ‘A’ and the characters themselves Hester, Pearl, Dimmesdale and Chillingworth.

The first important symbolic element being the imposing scaffold. Three main events happened at the scaffold which is very important in moving this book along. The scaffold is described as this great like platform where many important things happen. It is placed in the middle of town where all can see and hear look and observe. In the beginning of the story is where it begins with Hester and Pearl up on the platform where she is told to reveal the father of the young beautiful child, but she refuses and will not tell the irony of this is that the father of the young child Pearl is the one trying to get her to tell, Dimmesdale the preacher and also the father of the young child Pearl is telling Hester “Speak and give your child a father.” (P. 107) She again is silent and will not reveal the name of the young preacher the father of the baby. The second place is where the governor gives a speech and also where the governor’s sister is executed for engagement