Scarlet letter what does the scaffold symbolize

The angels were forever pointing at it! The Devil knew it well, and fretted it continually with the touch of his burning finger! But he hid it cunningly from men, and walked among you with the mien of a spirit, mournful, because so pure in a sinful world!

Now, at the death-hour, he stands up before you! He tells you, that, with all its mysterious horror, it is but the shadow of what he bears on his own breast, and that even this, his own red stigma, is no more than the type of what has seared his inmost heart! Behold a dreadful witness of it! It was revealed! But it were irreverent to describe that revelation. For an instant, the gaze of the horror-stricken multitude was concentred on the ghastly miracle; while the minister stood, with a flush of triumph in his face, as one who, in the crisis of acutest pain, had won a victory.

Then, down he sank upon the scaffold! Hester partly raised him, and supported his head against her bosom. The scene continues: Old Roger Chillingworth knelt down beside him, with a blank, dull countenance, out of which the life seemed to have departed.

Thou wouldst not, yonder, in the forest! But now thou wilt? A spell was broken. Finally, just before he dies, Dimmesdale says his goodbye to Hester. Surely, surely, we have ransomed one another, with all this woe!

Thou lookest far into eternity, with those bright dying eyes! Then tell me what thou seest? I fear! God knows; and He is merciful! He hath proved his mercy, most of all, in my afflictions. What are characteristics of Modernist literature, fiction in particular?

What does my brother mean when he says he's too ensconced in his studies to look for a girlfriend? My grandpa complained about a bunch of politicians making what he called chin music.

Did he mean they were in a loud band? What is melodrama? In Dracula, what's a missal? In the terms abject poverty and abject misery, what does abject mean?

In Moby-Dick, what does craven mean? What does cicatrize mean? What is a noisome smell" in Tolstoy's War and Peace? In Jane Eyre, what's syncope? I just read Dracula. What's the forcemeat in Jonathan Harker's journal? Can the word stern mean more than one thing? Where is Yoknapatawpha county? What does smouch mean? How do you pronounce quay?

And what does it mean, anyway? What are some examples of paradox in the novel Frankenstein? In Ivanhoe, what does mammock mean? What does rummage mean? Is a mummer some type of religious person? Some guy I don't like told his friend I was acting all demure. When I complained about our cafeteria food, my biology teacher told me he wished they'd serve agarics.

Was he talking about some kind of dessert? Where did the name Of Mice and Men come from? What genre would you consider the book, The Outsiders?

In Fahrenheit , why would a society make being a pedestrian a crime? What does the phrase, a worn-out man of fashion" mean from Jane Eyre? My teacher told me I was being obdurate. Was that a compliment? What motives inspired Iago to plot revenge against Othello? Who was the first king of Rome?

What does enervate mean? What is a parvenu? Is salubrity somehow related to being famous? Do capers have something to do with cops? What's the difference between a soliloquy and a monologue? What's a pandybat?

Does the word inexorable have something to do with driving demons out of a person? Do people who prognosticate have some sort of special power? What is a hegemony, from James Joyce's Ulysses? What are fallow fields? I'm a city gal who heard the term at a 4-H fair and just read it in Anna Karenina. What's the difference between parody and satire? Lord of the Flies uses the word inimical.

I saw vertiginous in Madame Bovary. What does mean the word mean? What does overweening mean, in Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes? Can you hear a dirge anyplace but a funeral?

Does imperturbable refer to something you can't break through? What are the seven ages of man? What's dross? What is an injunction? For school I had to make a Napoleon hat, which called for a cockade. What is that?

If someone studies assiduously, does it mean they're working really hard or really slowly? Define mood as it relates to a work of fiction. Distinguish mood from effect. My sister calls me the Princess of Prevarication. This biography I'm reading about Queen Victoria says that she refused to remove the hatchment she had for her husband Prince Albert. What does that word mean? What does sine qua non mean? What's lugubrious mean? What's impugn mean, from Ivanhoe?

What does postprandial mean? I love reading fashion magazines and occasionally come across the word atelier. What does King Lear mean when he says that ingratitude is a marble-hearted fiend"?

In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein , what are disquisitions? What's shrive? My neighbor said she's been unshriven for years, but I think her skin looks quite shriveled. What's a dobbin? What's polemic? Over winter break, my uncle told me I was polemic and asked if I was on the debate team at school.

I came across a list of homonyms: mu, moo, moue. I know mu is Greek for the letter m , and moo is the sound cows make, but what's a moue? What does trow mean? In Far from the Madding Crowd , what does cavil mean? Where can I find the word naught in The Scarlet Letter? I found an old diary from the s where the writer describes how he almost died but was saved by a sinapism. I know what mulch is, but what's mulct? When our teacher was introducing the next reading assignment, he said we'll be using the unexpurgated version.

What did he mean? For some reason, the word dingle sticks in my head after having read Treasure Island years ago. I never did discover what it meant. How about it, Cliff? In Dracula , what's stertorous breathing? What does philippic mean?

I'm usually pretty good at guessing what words mean, but have no clue about exigence. What is it? What's doughty? How do you pronounce it? What's sharecropping? I'm kind of embarrassed to ask, because it's one of those words everyone assumes you know what it means. I'm working on my summer reading list with Kafka's The Trial. The very first sentence uses traduce , and I don't know what that means. What does the cormorant bird symbolize in mythology?

I saw the word badinage in the book Uncle Tom's Cabin. Do you think that's a typo that really should be bandage? On a TV modeling contest, a judge said, Her simian walk is unbelievable. In Oliver Twist , Dodger refers to Oliver as flash companion.

Can't find a definition of this anywhere. Do elocutionists kill people? For my English homework, I have to write a love poem. I'm only 13 and I haven't had my first love yet. How would I go about writing about feelings that I haven't felt yet? Where on the body would I find my sarcophagus?

What's stolid? It sounds like someone who's stupid and built solid like a wall. What's a wonton person? In which play did William Shakespeare state that misery loves company? What's comfit? Is it a different way of saying comfort? Where did the story Frankenstein by Mary Shelley take place? What kind of person would a shallow-pate be? What are myrmidons of Justice" in Great Expectations? What did I do? In The Red Badge of Courage , what's an imprecation?

The word portmanteau shows up in a lot of the literature I read for school assignments. It sounds French. I did something really stupid yesterday, and my grandfather told me I was hoist with my own petard.

And what's a petard? What's a bourse? I read it in my finance class. In The House of Mirth, what are oubliettes? In Tess of the d'Urbervilles, what are thimble-riggers? In Wuthering Heights , what's a thible? Which Hemingway story references the running of the bulls" in Spain?

My dad mentioned that his granddad was there for a long time during World War I. If somebody is toady," does it mean they're ugly? In the movie Failure to Launch , there's a line that goes, Well, she certainly is yar," in reference to a yacht. What's yar? I got detention because a teacher said I was being contumacious. What's that? What are encomiums? What are billets in The Three Musketeers? In Orwell's , what is doublethink?

What are orts? That's a weird word that reminds me of orcs from The Lord of the Rings. What are alliteration and assonance? What's quinsy? What is New Historicism? I found the word unwonted in a book I'm reading. Is that a typo, you think? In Heart of Darkness , what does cipher mean? In the play The Glass Menagerie, would you describe Tom as selfish?

What does Kantian mean, from a philosophical perspective? What's a colonnade? My girlfriend is freaking me out with stories of her dream wedding where she walks down a colonnade. I know this is the least of my problems, but I'm curious. My grandma says she knows how I feel when I knit my brows. Is she crazy? I know bier has something to do with dead people, but what is it exactly? My brainy brother owns a Harley and says his girlfriend is the pillion.

Is he insulting her or just showing off? I ran across the word mien in a book. Is it a typo? Is a younker a person or a place? Does precipitancy have something to do with the weather? Any suggestions? A friend says she suffers from ineffable sadness. What's ineffable? What's a scow? Is a maelstrom some kind of dangerous weather? What is the meaning of this saying, The cat will mew and dog will have his day"?

The Picture of Dorian Gray mentions a panegyric on youth. In Madame Bovary , what's a mairie? In The Kite Runner, what's palliative mean? So what's oligarchy? In government class, my teacher mentioned that word when we were talking about the Blagojevich scandal in Illinois.

Is intrepidity a good thing or a bad thing? My grandmother told me that she thinks grandpa should see an alienist. Does she think he's from another planet or what? Do you have to have licentiousness to get your driver's license? I ran across the word hardihood in something I read the other day. Is it some kind of clothing? I saw mention of haversack in my history book. I'm guessing the word quadroon is four of something. But what's a roon? I'm trying to understand Shakespeare's play, King Lear.

Can you explain these quotes from Act 1, Scene 1? In Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment , what's a samovar? I came across a music channel that featured tejano," and then I saw the same word when I was reading Bless Me, Ultima. But what the heck is prunella? Is it a purplish color like prunes? In Chapter 2 of Jane Eyre , what are divers parchments? A friend of mine said she hopes to get a counterpane for Christmas. In Wuthering Heights, what does munificent mean? The other day, my dad called my friends a motley crew.

Is that his way of saying I should hang out with a different crowd? Why is there an authorship problem with Shakespeare? What is it called when something is out of place in time, like a jet stream in a movie about ancient Rome? In , does Winston die from a bullet at the end of the book or is he in a dream-state? I saw some old guy in a soldier's uniform selling fake red flowers. He said it was for Veterans Day.

What's the connection? I was kind of flirting with this really cute boy when my teacher told me to stop palavering. Did she want me to stop flirting or stop talking? My grandmother says when she was a kid in China, she became Catholic because of the Mary Knows nuns. I tried to look that up on the Internet but couldn't find anything. Can you help? In The Count of Monte Cristo , does cupidity mean love? I'm guessing that because of, you know, Cupid. Valentine's Day.

My theater teacher called me a name the other day. I don't think it was supposed to be a compliment. What's a somnambulist, anyway?

Why was Tartuffe such a jerk? To Kill a Mockingbird has this word fey in it, but I don't know what it means. Does it mean short lived or fleeting? Then I saw that word in Frankenstein. What's a hovel? I thought it was like a place that had room service. I have a friend who said something about phantasmagoric. That's not real, is it? Which of the following literary devices is used in these poetic lines by John Milton? In Faulkner's A Rose for Emily," what does noblesse oblige mean?

Why does Satan rebel against God? I'm reading Candide, by Voltaire, and one of the dudes is an Anabaptist. In Romeo and Juliet , who was the last person to see Juliet alive?

What is the Catechism? Is there a reference to venereal disease in Romeo and Juliet? What is fantasy fiction? What is the exposition in Othello?

Who is the character Susan in Romeo and Juliet? What is a found poem? What did Alice Walker mean in the essay Beauty"? Frankenstein create his monster? What is the name of the surgeon and the English ship he's on in Moby-Dick?

What are the differences between an epic hero and a Romantic hero? I'm in a literary dispute over this! What did W. Du Bois mean when he wrote of second-sight? What is nihilism, and what should I read to get a better understanding of it? What is the difference between an atheist and an agnostic? What are intelligent design and creationism and how are they related? What is misanthropy?

I would like to understand the poem Blight" by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Please help. When reading Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice , what does entailment mean? What does ignominy mean? From Shelley's Frankenstein What does pecuniary mean? What is an apostrophe in Macbeth? Is music a language? Why should literature be studied? In the book The Scarlet Letter , what is a vigil? What should I do now?! What is the exact quote in Hamlet about something being wrong in Denmark?

Something smells? Something is amiss? The scaffold supports Hawthorne's point that true repentence cannot occur until sin becomes public. Why is the first scaffold scene very ironic? How did Hester feel on the scaffold? What do we learn about Dimmesdale during the second scaffold scene? What was the aftermath of the scaffold scene?

Who is the greatest sinner in the scarlet letter? Who speaks to Hester while she is on the scaffold? What is the significance of the second scaffold scene in Scarlet Letter? Why does Dimmesdale stand on the scaffold? What does the letter a mean in Scarlet Letter? Who is the black man in the scarlet letter? How does the letter A change in the scarlet letter? What is the irony in The Scarlet Letter? What does Hester symbolize? What does the last line of scarlet letter mean?

Is the scarlet letter A true story? What does the letter A mean? The main character of the story, Hester Prynne, was found guilty of adultery. Though the penalty of adultery is death, she is shown mercy. Puritans in their great mercy and tenderness of heart, they have doomed mistress Prynne to stand only a space of three hours on the platform.

The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, focuses on the life of Hester Prynne—the unlucky soul who is caught committing adultery and forced to live a life of shame and ignominy. The scaffold is the setting of a scene three times throughout the novel: the beginning, middle, and end. For such a lifeless object, it is difficult to recognize its significance in the novel; however, the scaffold is used by Hawthorne to portray the changing relationship between the characters, specifically Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl.

Throughout the book Hester becomes stronger, this is due to the fact that the town as shamed her. For example, on page 11, she was experiencing her humiliation by standing on the scaffold and people tormenting her and harassing her. Although she was experiencing Private punishments on the scaffold too because, she was imagining what her parents are experiencing from this.

The main Private punishment for her was when her husband showed up at the punishment. Hester was in shock at this and she was struggling internally when these to this happened internally. Hester is the woman who wears a scarlet letter A on her breast and holds her illicit child in her arms on the scaffold, which is a severe punishment and great humiliation to a woman who is charged with adultery in the Puritan colonies,.

However, Hester still has her own dignity and people cannot see any flusters on her face.