Symbolism Of The Scaffold In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

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It is said that “Truth is plain, but its language is hard to interpret” (“The Scarlet Letter” 314). In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, the line between the “language” that is established in society and the “language” in one’s heart is blurred. The truth is plain. Hester and Dimmesdale’s truth is their sin manifested in their daughter, the living result of their adultery, Pearl. Based in Puritan Boston, The Scarlet Letter addresses the themes sin, shame, guilt, and redemption and their perception in Puritan society. Hester is shunned by the community, carrying the shame and guilt of her sin in public. Meanwhile, Dimmesdale carries the shame and guilt of his sin internally; and it eats away at him. Though psychological responses, shame …show more content…
Even though a strict community, heavenly appearances are often interpreted by its members, such as the case of the meteor seen the night on the scaffold in Chapter 12. Hawthorne uses the images of the scaffold and meteor to reinforce the transition between the themes of sin, shame, guilt, and redemption. The scaffold is the physical sign of sin, shame, guilt, and redemption, while the meteor is the ambiguous, ethereal sign. The scaffold in The Scarlet Letter represents the physical manifestation of the public shaming of Hester, and eventually Dimmesdale. Described as “a portion of a penal machine” (Hawthorne 52), the scaffold is shown in scenes with both Hester and Dimmesdale. The images of her sin, both the scarlet letter and Pearl, are first seen on the scaffold. Her sin, to some, has also brought shame upon the townspeople, not just Hester. As Hester exits the prison, her behavior appears as she is ashamed of what she has done, though she never shows she is ashamed throughout the rest of the novel. When Hester is standing on the scaffold, she is asked by the clergymen to confess who Pearl’s father is. Instead of telling them, she demands that the father face his guilt and …show more content…
The appearance of the meteor represents a shift in the tone of The Scarlet Letter. Instead of Hester, Dimmesdale feels most of the shame and guilt in Chapter 12. Also differing from previous chapters, it is an internal feeling of shame and guilt Dimmesdale has. The ambiguity in the chapter can first be seen when Dimmesdale thinks he calls to Reverend Wilson from atop the scaffold, “For one instant, he believed that these words had passed his lips. But they were uttered only within his imagination” (137). Dimmesdale’s shame and guilt are also ambiguous, because the reader knows of his sin, but those in the novel do not. Gale Virtual Reference Library says “it is the truth of sin that he keeps hidden which makes him the very pillar of moral purity in the community,” to those in the community Dimmesdale’s sin has affected his outward actions in a positive manner, especially in his sermons about private and personal sin (“The Scarlet Letter” 314). Hester and Pearl eventually encounter Dimmesdale as they are walking home. Dimmesdale promises to redeem himself to Pearl by confessing his sin, but his answer on when is vague. Soon after he says this a meteor passes in the sky. When gazing at the meteor, it seems that it has “the appearance of an immense letter,--the letter A,--marked out in lines of dull red light” (Hawthorne 141). The meteor’s appearance
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