Реферат: The Scarlet Letter Scaffol Scenes Essay Research

day. Dimmesdale responds that their meeting will be on the great judgement day, rather than

here in the daylight. Hawthorne describes the situation as such, ?And there stood the minister,

with his hand over his heart; and Hester Prynne, with the embroidered letter glimmering on her

bosom; and little Pearl, herself a symbol, and the connecting link between the two of them.?

(Hawthorne 144). The cry of Dimmesdale was also heard by two other people, they were Mr.

Wilson and Chillingworth. Mr. Wilson thought that Dimmesdale was upset about Governor

Winthrop?s death so he thought nothing of the incident. Chillingworth was spotted by Pearl

when a large meteor burns through the dark sky. Although Chillingworth said nothing to the

three, his reasoning for standing there staring at them is very mysterious. This is when Hester

and Dimmesdale start to wonder if he knows the truth about them. The people of the town

thought that the meteor symbolized the scarlet A. This scene flourishes with symbols. They

include: the scaffold itself; Dimmesdale?s silent vigil; the three observers that represent Church

(Mr.Wilson), State (Governor Winthrop), and the World of Evil (Chillingworth); the connection

between Hester, Pearl, and Dimmesdale; and the meteor.

The final scaffold scene occurs after the procession on Election Day. In this powerful

scene, Dimmesdale regains his soul, Pearl gains her humanity, Chillingworth loses his victim,

and Hester loses her dreams. Here again, the main characters come together, and Dimmesdale

reveals his ?scarlet letter?. After Dimmesdale delivered his Election Day sermon, he stood on

the scaffold with his lover and his child and confessed his sin to everyone. Suddenly the

minister sinks down on the scaffold and dies. Right before Dimmesdale died Pearl leaned down

and kissed the minister, then she started to cry. This shows that Pearl finally showed love for

Dimmesdale and she now realizes and understands that he is her father. Since Dimmesdale died,

Chillingworth no longer has a victim to terrorize. This gives him so much sorrow he ends up

dying also. In this final scene, all the symbols and characters are once again present: the Church,

State, and the World of Evil, the scarlet letter, the punishing scaffold, a symbolic kiss, and of

course, death.

Hawthorne ties together all the important themes, plots, and symbols of The Scarlet

Letter, into three scaffold scenes. These scenes provide the basic structure for the novel because

everything else revolves around what happens during these scenes. During the first scaffold