Preview

Scarlet Letter Scaffold Scene Analysis Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
640 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Scarlet Letter Scaffold Scene Analysis Essay
Ricci Arcena
Ms. Wildman
English Pre-AP
11/05/14
The Scarlet Letter
Close Read chapter 12 (pages 138-147)

In The Scarlet Letter, the second scaffold scene is accustomed to tell the readers about how the audience view things differently from others. Hawthorne uses literary devices and figures of speech such as symbolism, conflict and characterization. He also uses change in the mood to develop the function of the text. When the meteor shower falls and outlined the letter “A”, the reader might see it as having to do with Hester and Dimmesdale because of the fact that it is the Scarlet letter. On the other hand, the townspeople view it as “Angel” meaning that Governor Winthrop’s body has ascended to heaven. Altogether, the readers and townspeople have a different perspective on the letter “A” appeared on the night sky.
The mood is set when Hester, Dimmesdale and Pearl stand outside on the scaffold at night. In the beginning of this scene, Dimmesdale is alone and screams loud due to his pain and guilt as well as hoping that
…show more content…
It changes from a lighthearted tone to a serious, fearful tone. The whole connection of Dimmesdale, Pearl, and Hester being together, exchanging conversations and joy is what makes the tone positive until
Chillingworth appears. Hester sees him as a threat to them now that he found them together and and his appearance as the dark figure is reminded about Dimmesdale’s sin.
The Scarlet Letter can be connected to the play, Antigone. The character of Dimmesdale and Creon both share some feeling of guilt on what they did. Dimmesdale is guilty of commiting adultery and he doesn’t want to reveal it while Creon is guilty of his decisions and on what he had done to his son, Haemon and his wife, Eurydice which was their death. This tells the reader that The Scarlet Letter can be connected from the other text that has been read before and or based on their own

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Dimmesdale leaves and heads back for town. He is really excited to leave and head for Europe. They are actually getting to leave in four days. He gets to preach his last sermon, which will hopefully be his best, before he leaves. As Dimmesdale gets back into town, he gets this really weird feeling. Everyone he sees, he just wants to say some weird stuff to them. He is actually thinking the Devil has got to him.…

    • 1185 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Scarlet Letter is known for its enigmatic story telling nature through its author within an author within another author narration. Or simply yet Hester Prynne’s story, twice removed. Through this profound story of a young woman, Hester Prynne, living in the tenacious and pedestrian Puritan society of the New England…

    • 52 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays Arthur Dimmesdale as a troubled individual. In him lies the central conflict of the book. Dimmesdale's soul is torn between two opposing forces: his heart, his love for freedom and his passion for Hester Prynne, and his head, his knowledge of Puritanism and its denial of fleshly love. He has committed the sin of adultery but cannot seek divine forgiveness, believing as the Puritans did that sinners received no grace. His dilemma, his struggle to cope with sin, manifests itself in the three scaffold scenes depicted in The Scarlet Letter. These scenes form a progression through which Dimmesdale at first denies, then accepts reluctantly, and finally conquers his sin.…

    • 829 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dimmesdale inhabits the shame brought on by religiosity. After sinning twice, first the adultery he commit with Hester and second by lying and hiding the first, Dimmesdale wallows in his own guilt. He begins to have visions of Hester and Pearl pointing out his guilt and of members of the community mocking him. He wishes to stand with Hester and Pearl on the scaffold. He wishes to tell his congregation, "to speak out, from his own pulpit, at the full height of his voice, and tell the people what he was" (125), but he hides this and the guilt gnaws at him. It gnaws at him until…

    • 820 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The scaffold is a huge symbol in “The Scarlet Letter” the scaffold is seen three times in the book and each time the four main characters can be seen. The scaffold represents a place where public humiliation takes place ,this is a place where pence or punishment for sins happens. It also happens to be the place where Hawthorne shows the growth of each character. During each of the scaffold senses these four characters can be seen.At the beginning of the book we see Hester standing with Pearl with Dimmesdale above her asking, more like demanding answers and Chillingworth in the audience. Hester is full of shame for what she has done an example is she attempts to hide the letter with pearl,but she cannot hide one object of shame with another.…

    • 337 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel, The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne shows two scaffold scenes. The scaffold scenes are different in many ways. Seven years from when Hester Prynne stood in shame, wearing her scarlet A, holding her demonic child Pearl, during the day. Dimmesdale now stands alone in the middle of the night. In the first scaffold scene with Hester everyone in town saw the high reverend Dimmesdale question her as her thought to be dead husband stood there as a witness of her punishment. In the second scaffold scene Dimmesdale has no light, no questions and at first no witnesses. After Dimmesdale stands for a while Hester and Pearl join him and his witness, Chillingsworth appears. Both Scaffold scenes give different views…

    • 641 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the Scarlet Letter two of the primary characters are provided by the author to show us a kind of foil. The one character, Reverend Dimmesdale, seems as if he is kind, but he has been living with a terrible burden, hindering him everywhere he goes. Chillingworth is his opposite, you would assume him to be nice when really he is quite evil. Dimmesdale and Chillingworth bring out each other's characteristics and bring out the characteristics of other characters around them. Dimmesdale and Chillingworth but heads in every aspect of their lives especially when it comes to Hester, who just so happens to be the only thing they have in common.…

    • 1267 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne the reader gains insight into the background and personalities of the characters through Roger Chillingworth and Arthur Dimmesdale. These two characters show us the evil in the novel, the unfolding sin, and add a special romance to the novel…

    • 795 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The scarlet letter and humiliation signalize the set of scaffold scenes as similar. The scaffold scenes mark important developments in the story. Sometimes there are scenes in one's life that specify the beginning middle and end, like Dimmesdale's. Other times we will just have to wait and see what the future holds for us. The begging, the middle, and the end will be different, sometimes more plainly than other times. Just remember, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade! Basically be prepared for whatever life throws your way and you will do great on the race of…

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It first becomes a symbol for adultery but later becomes a symbol of an angel. At the end of The Scarlet Letter, the townspeople finally realize that Hester is not a sinful woman and realizes what she has done wrong. The significance of the scaffold changes throughout the novel. It starts as the place of persecution for Hester, but by the end of the book, it symbolizes freedom and escape for Dimmesdale. The narrator concludes with the quote, “On a field, sable, the letter A, gules’’ (Hawthorne 259). This symbolizes whether or not the townspeople really forgave Hester for what she has done or whether she be punishment after she…

    • 653 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Chillingworth was Hester Prynne’s husband before she was brought to jail. He is first seen as “a figure which irresistibly took possession of [Hester’s] thoughts” at the town square. His year of captivity with the Indians explains his “strange disarray of civilized and savage costume” (Hawthorne 56). Later on in the story, he meets with Hester in the prison to discuss…

    • 986 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In one of the final scenes of the novel, Dimmesdale ascends the scaffold with Hester and Pearl in front of the entire town. He confronts the demands between his passion and his…

    • 397 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Meteor that Dimmesdale sees in Chapter 12 of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter is an important symbol. As the minister watches the night sky, together with Hester and Pearl, a meteor appears that traces out an „A“. While most of the people think that the „A“ stands for „Angel“ and is showing that Governor Winthrop is gone and it marks his the entry to heaven, which will be proofed later on, but Dimmesdale, on the other hand, interprets it differently. Him hiding his sins and „cover his heart with his hand“, the „A“ reminds him of Hester‘s Scarlet Letter. He thinks, it is a sign for him to wear the mark of shame too, so as Hester does. Seeing that God is trying to show his sins to the public, what he does not want, even through he is dying of that. The minister only will find peace by telling and confessing his sin and accepting it finally, to what he is not able to do until the end of the book.…

    • 256 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Chillingworth's Downfall

    • 1120 Words
    • 5 Pages

    He shows how a quiet old man became some sort of fiend seeking revenge, his evilness so strong he merely resembled the Devil to most people of the town. His lust for vengeance became so strong that once Dimmesdale had died, so had he. His lust for revenge had gone away and that was all that he had. He was finally Roger Prynne again so he sought redemption as he had given his estate to Pearl. This is an important detail to finish off the character’s story as he goes from a fiend to caring for Pearl’s future. It truly emphasizes that all of the main characters in the Scarlet Letter went through a change through the…

    • 1120 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Interrogation scene is related to the book’s theme of revenge. Chillingworth tells Hester that he will find Pearl’s father (who turns out to be Dimmsdale, the minister) , since she will not tell him. He does, However, forgive her. He then gives Hester some medicine to ease her pain, and to her relief, it is not poison. He asks Hester to keep him being her husband a secret, and she agrees. He then leaves, and Hester is left to herself. This scene is important because it reveals the identity of Chillingworth, hints at his discovery of Dimmsdale's secret, and shows what kind of man Chillingworth has become. (He has degraded a lot after his years of Indian captivity.)This chapter also shows what the society of Puritans was like and how they…

    • 198 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays