Adultery And Betrayal In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

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One of the most well-known pieces of literature was Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story of adultery and betrayal in colonial America was published on March 16, 1850. The Scarlet Letter showed the terrible impact a single, passionate act had on the lives of three members of the community: the defiant Hester Prynne; the fiery, tortured Reverend Dimmesdale; and the obsessed, vengeful Chillingworth. This novel was constructed around a scaffold, which provided the story with a constant reminder of sin. “The scaffold constituted a portion of a penal machine. The very ideal of ignominy was embodied and made manifest in this contrivance of wood and iron” (Hawthorne 52-53). There were three significant scaffold scenes.…show more content…
In the covering of darkness, Dimmesdale had made his way to the scaffold, where Hester stood seven years ago and lived through her first hours of public ignominy, to perform a silent vigil of his own. He had been driven here because of his guilt for a wrong committed. He was terrified, as if the universe was gazing at a scarlet token on his naked breast, right over his heart. On that spot, there was pain and without ability to restrain himself, he shrieked (Hawthorne 135-136). Then, he saw Hester and Pearl, who had been at Winthrop’s deathbed. Dimmesdale invited them to join him on the scaffold. The three held hands, forming an “electric chain.” The minister felt energized and warmed by their presence. Pearl then asked if Dimmesdale would stand there with Hester and her tomorrow noontide. The minister said not now, but he would, at the great judgment day. Suddenly, a meteor brightened the dark sky, illuminating their surroundings. When the minister looked up, he saw an “A” in the sky, marked out in dull red light (Hawthorne 140-141). At the same time, Pearl saw Chillingworth at a distance, watching them. Dimmesdale asked about Chilingworth, but Hester, sworn to secrecy, could not reveal her husband’s identity. Chillingworth, coming back from Winthrop’s deathbed, came to retrieve Dimmesdale. They returned home. The townspeople believed the “A” to stand for “Angel” and took it as a sign that…show more content…
This novel was constructed around a scaffold, which provided the story with a constant reminder of sin. These three scenes marked the beginning, middle, and end of the story. The first scaffold scene introduced us to the conflict and to the characters. The second scaffold scene was the rising action and allowed us to predict what will happen later on. This scene brought the reader to the point of greatest interest. The third scene was the resolution. It wrapped up the story with a tragic, but also sweet ending. These three scaffold scenes were really powerful and significant. They each helped advanced the plot of the
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