Come up hither once again, and we will stand all three together.' (Ch.12) But when Pearl asks the minister if he will stand with her mother and her tomorrow, the minister replies, 'Nay not so, my little Pearl. Ye have both been here before, but I was not with you.

'Come up hither, Hester, thou and Little Pearl. When Hester and Pearl approach on their way home from the governor's mansion, the minister asks them to join him on the scaffold. Tortured by his guilt and remorse that he lacked the courage to confess his sin years ago, he stands on the scaffold to admit to God his sin. In the second scaffold scene, which is in the middle of the novel and is seven years after the first scene, the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale stands alone on the scaffold in the dark of night. This illustrates the theme of conflict between individual and society. Nevertheless, she courageously bears her isolation. Accosted with the harsh Puritan judgments of the crowd, such as the woman who declares that she has 'brought shame upon us all, and ought to die' (Ch.2), Hester is isolated from society. In the first scaffold scene, before a condemning crowd, Hester stands alone in her ignominy with the scarlet letter on her breast and her living symbol of her sin, Pearl, clutched to this breast. These arrangements are significant in meaning and in developing themes. In all three of the scaffold scenes, the main characters are present, but their arrangement concerning the scaffold differs. This symbol furthers Hawthorne's purpose, as it incites feelings of isolation in the characters. Hawthorne's employment of the three scaffold scenes in The Scarlet Letter is a brilliant structuring device it not only frames the narrative, but it also directs the readers' attention to the essential themes of the novel.

Scarlet letter scaffold meaning