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Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the powerful scaffold setting three times throughout his novel, The Scarlet Letter to portray the themes woven into his tale of sin. The title of Hawthorne’s novel alludes to the fact that the scarlet A, the symbol of ....

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... she must wear a scarlet letter on the bodice of her dress. This letter is an A, a constant reminder of the sin that was committed. The next scaffold scene involves Hester, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale (the father of Mrs. Prynne’s illegitimate child), and Pearl (the illegitimate child). Here, we find that the Reverend’s guilt over his sin becomes too much to bear alone. Dimmesdale goes to the scaffold to confess to God. Soon after, Hester and Pearl arrive, and join Dimmesdale on the scaffold. A meteor that appears and leaves an image of the scarlet A across the sky illuminates the three. This scene is symbolic because it shows how the ...