The Irony Behind the Scaffold in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, retells the story about a British immigrant to the New World. The immigrant, named Hester Prynne, settled down in a Puritan community. She lived there peacefully until the other members of the community discovered that she had committed a terrible sin: adultery! Following this, the story unwinds to reveal not only the identity of her secret lover, but also of her former husband, whose sole purpose of living is to take revenge upon Reverend Dimmesdale, Hester's lover. Soon after their reunion, Hester and Dimmesdale plan on escaping to Europe. However, the untimely death of Dimmesdale after his confession ruins these plans. More deaths soon follow Dimmesdale's, including that of Roger Chillingworth, Hester's former husband, and finally, with the death of Hester herself. Though these deaths brought an end to the story, they began a legend that remained in the Puritan community for many generations thereafter. Throughout the story, many locations play important roles. One such location is the scaffold, seen multiple times in the story of Hester. Through the use of these scaffold scenes, Hawthorne portrays the increasing irony of Dimmesdale's position from the day of Hester's branding by the scarlet letter, to the day of his death.

Hawthorne creates irony through his placement of Dimmesdale and Hester in the differing scaffold scenes. The very first such occurred during Hester's punishment for committing adultery. As the beadle leads her to the scaffold, one spectator comments that Hester's "godly pastor, takes it very grievously to heart that such a scandal should have come upon his congregation" (Hawthorne 47). On the scaffold, as Hester serves her punishment, Dimmesdale asks her to reveal the father of her baby. He informs her that she should not remain silent "from any mistaken pity and tenderness for him; for...though he were to step down from place..., better were it so, than to hide a guilty heart through life" (Hawthorne 62). However, Hester continues refusing to reveal the father's identity. After Hester gave her response, Dimmesdale, who had had "his hand upon his heart..., drew back with a long respiration" (Hawthorne 63). The comment made by the spectator serves to hint at important facts that result in the irony: the reverend suffers from a pain in his heart, the identity of the father is unknown to the general public (they simply blame Hester), and that the people have a high view of Dimmesdale. The appeal that Dimmesdale makes along with his actions after Hester's response serves to hint at the identity of her baby's father. Also, in this scene, Dimmesdale stands on the balcony while Hester stands on the scaffold. Since the balcony resides over the scaffold, Dimmesdale stands above Hester. This not only represents the people's view of Dimmesdale in contrast to their view of Hester, but also creates irony because the peoples' views of him and his position are incorrect.

The change in the position of Dimmesdale creates greater irony further on in the story. The second scene involving the scaffold occurs on the night of the death of Governor Winthrop. In this scene, Dimmesdale arrives at the scaffold and stands upon it. At this point, he has a sudden fear of everyone seeing the "scarlet token on his naked breast, right over his heart" (Hawthorne 142). He screams out from the pain that the scarlet token has caused him all these years. Later, Hester and her daughter, Pearl, arrive and join him on the scaffold. They join hands and by doing so, give each other strength. At one point, Dimmesdale even felt a "tumultuous rush of new life...pouring like a torrent into his heart" (Hawthorne 146). The first of these quotes serves to confirm the suspicion of Dimmesdale's participation in the adultery. Through Dimmesdale's change in position, the irony is increased. Dimmesdale now stands on the scaffold along with the original occupants of it. Not only that, but the irony increases in that the people of the community are still not aware of the sin that Dimmesdale continues to hide but the audience now knows for sure. During this time, Pearl also asks Dimmesdale to join her and her mother on the scaffold the next day at noon, but Dimmesdale refuses. This shows Dimmesdale's unreadiness at the time to reveal his sins.

Hawthorne creates the greatest irony through the change in locations of Hester and Dimmesdale in the eyes of the public as well as through the Puritan community's views on Dimmesdale at that time. This final scaffold scene occurs on Election Day. In this scene, after Dimmesdale gives his speech, he asks Hester and Pearl to join him on the scaffold. At this point, he reveals his sin to the Puritan community. Dimmesdale tears "away the ministerial band...and it was revaled!" (Hawthorne 252). Once again, Hester , Dimmesdale, and Pearl stand together on the scaffold. However, this time, the public is present to view this spectacle. Also, it is at this time that Dimmesdale lives in his greatest glory. Many people of the Puritan community now believe in his holiness, some going as far as to call him a saint. This makes the irony all the greater that in the time when people would think he represents the idol that all should follow, he shocks them with his confession. The irony is finally completed with Dimmesdale's confession, and with the burden of sin lifted from his shoulders, he falls to the ground and dies.

The scaffold is seen to play an important role through three major scenes of the story. From the very beginning to the very end, the scaffold resides in the story. Also, from the beginning of Dimmesdale's sin, he has yearned to confess, but could not do so. Finally, he does so on the scaffold, and thus ends not only his life, but that of Roger Chillingworth as well. The scaffold could possibly represent the most important symbol and location in the story.