The first scaffold scene is preluded in the opening paragraph of Ch. ii which describes the grim visaged Boston multitude. "all with their eyes intently fastened on the iron clamped oaken door" (39) of the prison, from which Hester is shortly to emerge. The moral spotlight is on Hester all this while, all but one of the group of female spectators expressing the view that the sentence going to be imposed on her is far too lenient. Later the spotlight is on Hester's mark of shame, the fantastically embroidered letter A. Before Hester climbs to the scaffold there is an extended description of the scaffold itself and of the pillory¬that "ugly engine" (44) which is installed there. The epilogue is the opening paragraph of Ch. iv which highlights
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xxi briefly lights up the scaffold which is being used by various entertainers to amuse the holiday crowd, until the beadle puts a stop to it. And it highlights an important component of the scaffold scenes - ¬the Boston multitude. Ch. xxii draws repeated attention to the changed self of Dirnmesdale. Throughout the Election Sermon the scaffold is in the foreground. 'An irresistible feeling" (17) keeps Hester near this spot, making her take up her position "close beside the scaffold of the pillory." During the entire sermon she stands "statue like, at the foot of the scaffold" (173). In Ch. xxiii we still find her "standing beside the scaffold of the pillory" (176). Dimmesdale drops out of the procession when he comes opposite “the well remembered ... scaffold" (178); he sees Hester and Pearl standing there, and, after a momentary pause, stretches his arms towards the scaffold and entreats Hester to support him up its steps. The postlude to the scene is a major part of the Conclusion giving various theories about the 'portent' upon Dimmes¬dale's breast and recording the dissenting opinion of the “highly respectable witnesses" (xxiv, 182), witnesses who not only deny this 'Portent', but maintain that Dimmesdale never "even remotely implied... the slightest connection" with Hester's adultery. It also describes a part of the scaffold scene left out in Ch. xxiii how Chillingworth, the fourth occupant of the scaffold, was, immediately after Dimmesdale's death, bereft of "all his vital and intellectual force: insomuch that he positively withered up, shrivelled away, and almost vanished from mortal sight"
xxi briefly lights up the scaffold which is being used by various entertainers to amuse the holiday crowd, until the beadle puts a stop to it. And it highlights an important component of the scaffold scenes - ¬the Boston multitude. Ch. xxii draws repeated attention to the changed self of Dirnmesdale. Throughout the Election Sermon the scaffold is in the foreground. 'An irresistible feeling" (17) keeps Hester near this spot, making her take up her position "close beside the scaffold of the pillory." During the entire sermon she stands "statue like, at the foot of the scaffold" (173). In Ch. xxiii we still find her "standing beside the scaffold of the pillory" (176). Dimmesdale drops out of the procession when he comes opposite “the well remembered ... scaffold" (178); he sees Hester and Pearl standing there, and, after a momentary pause, stretches his arms towards the scaffold and entreats Hester to support him up its steps. The postlude to the scene is a major part of the Conclusion giving various theories about the 'portent' upon Dimmes¬dale's breast and recording the dissenting opinion of the “highly respectable witnesses" (xxiv, 182), witnesses who not only deny this 'Portent', but maintain that Dimmesdale never "even remotely implied... the slightest connection" with Hester's adultery. It also describes a part of the scaffold scene left out in Ch. xxiii how Chillingworth, the fourth occupant of the scaffold, was, immediately after Dimmesdale's death, bereft of "all his vital and intellectual force: insomuch that he positively withered up, shrivelled away, and almost vanished from mortal sight"