I have to write an essay on the use of the scaffold in the novel. The first use is in the beginning when Hester is standing on it for public punishment. The third time is at the end, when Dimmesdale pleads for forgiveness and then dies. I am confused on the second time it is used. Any ideas?
Dimmesdale is on the scaffold twice - the use of it in the novel in order 1st On this day Hester is led to the town scaffold and harangued by the town fathers, but she again refuses to identify her child’s father 2nd when they encounter Dimmesdale atop the town scaffold, trying to punish himself for his sins. Hester and Pearl join him, and the three link hands. Dimmesdale refuses Pearl’s request that he acknowledge her publicly the next day, 3rd Dimmesdale, leaving the church after his sermon, sees Hester and Pearl standing before the town scaffold. He impulsively mounts the scaffold with his lover and his daughter, and confesses publicly, exposing the mark supposedly seared into the flesh of his chest.
