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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This is a 3 page paper that provides an overview of redemption in "The Scarlet Letter". The three scenes at the scaffold are examine for symbolic value. Bibliography lists 0 sources.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: KW60_KFlit038.doc
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
to redemption. The first of the three scaffold scenes in "The Scarlet Letter" opens the novel proper and introduces the main characters. In it, Hester Prynn is marched to the
towns public scaffold at noonday along with her out-of-wedlock daughter Pearl as punishment for her refusal to name her partner in adultery. The emphasis of this scene is the agony
which Hester endures as the object of silent ridicule for the entire town. At first, Hester was indignant about her punishment, expecting to meet the vocal jeers and boos of
the crowd with laughter; however, the crowd only stares at her in accusatory silence. Unlike the anticipated jeers, she is unsure how to react to this silent scorn: "under the
leaden infliction which it was her doom to endure, she felt, at moments, as if she must needs shriek out with the full power of her lungs, and cast herself
from the scaffold down upon the ground, or else go mad at once". This is the first step in Hesters redemption, in that her sense of shame leads her to
drop her indignity and start to focus on true repentance through charity work as a desire to rejoin society instead of enduring the terrifying experience of being set apart from
it. Ironically, Hesters partner is sin is also present at the scaffold, but because no one suspects Dimmesdales involvement, he is compelled, as the towns minister, to act as her
accuser, compelling her to confess even though he secretly knows he would be destroyed by such a confession. It is plain that this forced deception is a torment upon Dimmesdale,
and sets him apart from his contemporaries in the same way that Hester, whose sins are openly known, is now set apart; Dimmesdale is described as being "at a loss
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