What Is The Scaffold In The Scarlet Letter

Throughout the existence of mankind, the arduous trail from sin to salvation has been trekked repeatedly. In his novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne discerns the struggles of earning forgiveness. The novel focuses on the aftermath of the sin committed by Hester Prynne and her lover, Arthur Dimmesdale. It chronicles the adversities the duo face and in the process showcases the tough nature of absolution in Puritan society. Hawthorne shrewdly arranges the novel around three key scenes, all of which occur on the scaffold, the center of indignity. Over the course of the novel, the scaffold in the three scenes serves as a dynamic symbol adapting to the changing relationships between the characters and the revelation of their sins. The

As he walks up the scaffold, Dimmesdale feels a deep sense of guilt, as Hawthorne states, “Mr. Dimmesdale was overcome with a great horror of mind, as if the universe were gazing at a scarlet token on his naked breast, right over his heart. On that spot, in very truth, there was, and there had long been, the gnawing and poisonous tooth of bodily pain.” Feeling the burden of his guilt, Dimmesdale contemplates the punishment for his sin -- a scarlet letter on his chest. Through spending the night on the scaffold, Dimmesdale is able to materialize his guilt; something that he wasn’t able to do in the confinements of his own house with the vengeful leech, Chillingworth. His relationship between him and Hester grew more intimate as they meet up in isolation sharing the guilt of the same sin. After Dimmesdale mounts the steps to the scaffold, Hawthorne depicts that “they would have discerned no face above the platform, nor hardly the outline of a human shape, in the dark gray of the midnight. But the town was all asleep. There was no peril of discovery.” Hawthorne’s vivid use of imagery helps bring a correlation between isolation of Hester’s and Dimmesdale’s relationship and his guilt, both as symbolic representations of the scaffold. As Dimmesdale expressed his emotions, the night shielded

During the encounter between Dimmesdale and Chillingworth minutes before they mount the scaffold, Hawthorne states, “‘Ha, tempter! Methinks thou art too late!’ answered the minister, encountering his eye, fearfully, but firmly. ‘Thy power is not what it was! With God's help, I shall escape thee now!’” Through referring to Chillingworth as a “tempter”, Dimmesdale gives a reference to Satan and feels as though he has been set free from the devil’s chains. Pride, one of the seven deadly sins, keeps him off the scaffold, while his humility lets him mount the scaffold. While the overall tone of his death is not very uplifting, humility, which the scaffold symbolizes, is what allows him to die in peace. Through accepting his weakness, Dimmesdale allows himself to accept Hester's love as a pure love, as opposed to carnal lust. In his endeavor to confess, “It seemed, at this point, as if the minister must leave the remainder of his secret undisclosed. But he fought back the bodily weakness--and, still more, the faintness of heart--that was striving for the mastery with him. He threw off all assistance, and stepped passionately forward a pace before the woman and the children.” The passage suggests a last-minute struggle with his pride. Newfound humility is what lets him win that battle and die with peace and a