The Scaffold Public penitence is no longer widely used as punishment in today's western society. However, back in Puritan society, it was in some ways considered worse than death. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, the criminals of the law be it governmental or religious, were taken in sight of all onto the scaffold to publicly display their wrongdoing. Just as the scaffold is the center of the town, it is also the center of …showed first 75 words of 952 total…

…showed last 75 words of 952 total…scaffold. This demonstrates the structural importance of the scaffold upon the whole of the novel. The scenes at the scaffold are the most important part of the novel, as they set the scene and are essential to the plot. They have brought the main characters together. Hawthorne has successfully used the focal point of the town to be the focal point of the story. Works Cited Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Penguin Books, 1983.