The light of the meteor also reveals Roger Chillingworth standing near the scaffold. On the other hand, the townspeople who have also seen it, interpret it to mean вЂAngelвЂ™ and take it to be a heavenly sign of good Governor Winthrop having been made an angel after his death. A meteor lights up the sky at that moment and the young priest feels that it has blazed a huge scarlet letter вЂAвЂ™ across the sky. But he shrinks from PearlвЂ™s suggestion that he should stand with them there in the broad daylight next day. When the nervous and emaciated Dimmesdale asks Hester and Pearl to join him on the scaffold, he feels the vitality of a life other than his own. Wilson, returning from the death-bed of Governor Winthrop, walks past the scaffold without noticing Dimmesdale. His shriek awakens Governor Bellingham and Mistress Hlibbins, but neither of them sees him on the scaffold. Standing on the scaffold, he feels that the whole world is gazing at the scarlet letter over his heart. The scarlet letter is again emphasized here when Hester, along with Pearl, mounts the platform to stand there along with Dimmesdale, this time by stressing DimmesdaleвЂ™s obsession with his own guilt. Hawthorne calls this scene a вЂњmockery of penitenceвЂќ and вЂњa vain show of expiationвЂќ. This is staged on a dark night after the young priest has kept his vigil. The second scaffold scene occurs right in the middle of the narrative when Arthur Dimmesdale mounts the platform in a half-hearted attempt to confess his sin. The fist scaffold scene sets the picture/image of a solitary figure against an inimical society in a village which hovers on the edge of the inviting and perilous wilderness вЂ“ a beautiful young woman standing on a raised platform confronting in silence and pride a hostile crowd, a young woman who has come alone to the New World where circumstances have divided her from the community now gathered to oppose her. The scene sets the tone of the narrative that is to unfold with these protagonists in the вЂromanceвЂ™ вЂ“ Hester, Pearl, Dimmesdale and Chillingworth as the dramatic personae. Chillingworth is a mere spectator of HesterвЂ™s public humiliation while Dimmesdale is too cowardly and timid to admit his part in her shame. Seeing that Hester has recognized him, he slowly and calmly raises his finger and puts it on his lip, asking her not to reveal his identity in the crowd.ДimmesdaleвЂ™s apparent status among the community leaders contrasts with HesterвЂ™s predicament in this scene, while Chilllingworth has no status to speak of at this juncture. His face darkens with some power of emotion which he controls by an effort of his will. She stands alone in the world with the symbol of her sin, concealing the torture she is undergoing when she spots Roger Chilllingworth at the edge of the crowd. She tries to hide it by shifting the infant to that side, but bears her ordeal with dignity and a certain amount of haughtiness. People gaze at the embroidered scarlet letter вЂAвЂ™ вЂњfantastically embroidered and illuminated upon her bosomвЂќ. She can expect no sympathy from anyone in the community. Women in the crowd pass harsh comments on her, but Hester is resolute. They even hold out the temptation that she may be allowed to take off the scarlet letter if she reveals his name. John Wilson and the young priest Arthur Dimmesdale вЂ“ exhort Hester to reveal the name of her partner-in-sin. The leaders of the community вЂ“ Governor Bellingham, the Reverend Mr. People jeer at her and mock her and while the people stand below the platform, the leaders of the community вЂ“ civil officers, magistrates, priests вЂ“ stand above on a balcony.

She has been let off in the opinion of many in the crowd, with a вЂlenientвЂ™ punishment for breaking a sacred commandment. She has committed the unforgivable sin of adultery and must be made a public spectacle. The first scaffold or pillory scene occurs right at the beginning of the novel when Hester stands with an infant in her arms on the scaffold in midday. Each of these scenes brings together the major characters and forces of the story and each scene, rivets our attention to the scarlet letter вЂAвЂ™ on Hester PrynneвЂ™s bosom.

On the scaffold meaning