The Scaffold in The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is characterized by three major events that occur on the town scaffold. What takes place on this platform will determine the path which the three main characters, Hester Prynne, Mr. Dimmsdale, and their daughter Pearl will follow. The three scenes mark the beginning, middle, and end of their ignominy. The scaffold is a platform where criminals are punished before all the townspeople. In this case, the criminal is Hester …

…high place nor lowly place, where thou couldst have escaped me save on this very scaffold,' " says Chillingworth (231). In the end, the place of their punishment also brought them peace. The direction of Hester, Pearl, and Dimmsdale's lives were changed by the fateful events at the scaffold. The cycle of their ignominy was expressed throughout The Scarlet Letter by these scenes. The scaffold became a place where the truth and their sins were exposed.