In the classic novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, the scaffold, which serves as a place of public punishment and shame, lies the center of all the action in the novel. Hawthorne strategically places three scaffold scenes in the novel, at the beginning, middle, and end. He uses these scenes as a unifying device for demonstrating the connection between the characters.
             The story opens with a scaffold scene which serves as a tool to introduce and unify the four main characters in the novel. The introduction of the main character, Hester, the adulterer; Pearl, Hester's product of sin (her daughter); Dimmesdale, the second adulterer and the father of Pearl; and Chillingworth, the wise and elderly husband of Hester, creates a broad knowledge of the events to come. The sequence of events begins with the accusation of Hester's sin of adultery, which entices her to three hours of public criticism upon the scaffold. The public display of sin overwhelms the town of Boston. Some women in the town believe that she deserves a more severe punishment, as they express in chapter two by saying, "...they should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne's forehead..." In Hester's arms lies Pearl, Hester's daughter and her greatest retribution, but also her greatest prize. Together they stand before the eyes of many, as the crowd gathers to watch their humiliation and to hear a sermon. In the crowd stands Roger Chillingworth, having just coincidentally arrived on the day of Hester's punishment. Chillingworth conceals his emotions from being initially shocked upon learning of Hester's wrong doings. Also in the scene, looking down upon Hester, Arthur Dimmesdale, a minister, sits in secrecy of his sin. Knowing that confession could bring a downfall to his reputation as a minister, he denies any public acknowledgment of involvement in the sin. Inconspicuously Dimmesda
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