12/29/2023 0 Comments Letter scaffoldHester is only to have a brief respite, however, because Pearl angrily demands she resume wearing the scarlet A. Symbolically, when Hester removes the letter and takes off the cap, she is, in effect, removing the harsh, stark, unbending Puritan social and moral structure. When she removes the letter and takes off her cap in Chapter 13, she once again becomes the radiant beauty of seven years earlier. Her beautiful hair is hidden under her cap, her beauty and warmth are gone, buried under the burden of the elaborate scarlet letter on her bosom. In fact, so physically stunning is she that "her beauty shone out, and made a halo of the misfortune and ignominy in which she was enveloped."Ĭontrast this with her appearance after seven years of punishment for her sin. Hester is physically described in the first scaffold scene as a tall young woman with a "figure of perfect elegance on a large scale." Her most impressive feature is her "dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam." Her complexion is rich, her eyes are dark and deep, and her regular features give her a beautiful face. Her inner strength, her defiance of convention, her honesty, and her compassion may have been in her character all along, but the scarlet letter brings them to our attention. While Hawthorne does not give a great deal of information about her life before the book opens, he does show her remarkable character, revealed through her public humiliation and subsequent, isolated life in Puritan society. He once again is too much of a coward to confess out in the open.What is most remarkable about Hester Prynne is her strength of character. At this time Pearl questions the minister if he will do this at noontide and he answers no. As before, they are asked to go up on the scaffold and be with the minister. He then sees Hester and Pearl coming down the street from the governor’s house. He seeks a confession of his sins a second time by calling out into the night. It is very similar to the other and helps us understand the torment of Dimmesdale.Īs before the tortured Reverend Dimmesdale goes first on to the platform. This scene sets the stage for the next two scenes.Ī few years later the event is again repeated. It was said “So powerful seemed the ministers appeal that the people could not believe but that Hester Prynne would speak out the guilty name.” His powerful speech shows Dimmesdale’s need to confess. Reverend Dimmesdale, Pearl’s Father, is already raised up on a platform to the same height as Hester and Pearl and Roger Chillingworth, Hester’s lost husband, arrives, stands below, and questions the proceedings.Īs Hester endures her suffering, Dimmesdale is told to beseech the woman to confess. Here the scarlet letter is revealed to all. By beginning with the first, continuing with the middle, and ending with the last platform scene, we can gain a better understanding of this masterpiece.Īt the beginning of the book, Hester is brought out with Pearl to stand on the scaffold. In The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne chooses the scaffold scenes to show powerful differences and similarities.Įach scaffold scene foreshadows the next and brings a greater understanding of the novel. Recurring events show great significance and elucidate the truth beneath appearances.
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