Scaffold Of Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

Seth Delposen Mrs. Macacci Literary critic essay December 1, 2015 Scaffold s Role in Scarlet Letter The scaffold, in Puritan times, was where criminals were shamed, ridiculed, and executed by the community. When they were released from jail, the first place that they went was to the scaffold, to be shown to the community. In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the scaffold was not only a place of shame, but it was where character s social status rose and fell throughout the book. Hester Prynne s world came crashing down atop the scaffold. After spending time in jail for being pregnant outside of wedlock, she had to face her community, wearing a big scarlet letter across her bosom. The scarlet letter was the community s punishment for her sin and was their way of trying to get her to repent. The community forced her to wear the scarlet letter at all times and she was constantly shunned and abused for it. She wrestled with the decision to leave, and one time even considered killing Pearl and committing suicide. Also, she sees her husband for the first time in a long time on top of the scaffold. At the first scaffold scene, it says, Be that as it might, the scaffold of the pillory was a point of view that revealed to Hester Prynne the entire track along which she had been treading, since her happy infancy. Standing on that miserable eminence, she saw again her native village (Hawthorne 88). 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