Scarletletter symbolism

Scarletletter symbolism

The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne uses many things for symbolism and in my opinion the most symbolic were the scaffold scenes. There are a total of three scaffold scenes and each has its own purpose and meaning. Without the scaffold scenes this book would basically leave you clueless to what was really going on because the scaffold scenes really tell you what is going on and why.

The first scaffold scene is basically an introduction to the whole book. You learn who all the main charters are and most of all Hester and her terrible crime she committed. This is the first time everyone sees Hester with the letter “A” on her bosom. Hester is a very brave woman for standing up on that scaffold in front of everyone in the town to gawk at and for admitting that she had committed adultery. Also, it takes a very courageous person to stick up for what they believe in like she did by not telling who she had committed the crime with.

The whole story builds you up to this point of finding out who Hester committed adultery with. By this point in the story you have some clue who the father of Pearl is but until you get to the second scaffold scene you don’t know for sure. At the second scaffold scene Dimesdale is on the scaffold and Hester and Pearl come up and join him. Dimesdale is wearing down by the burden of...

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