while on the scaffold, she sees her husband who left town some while ago. She notices him, and also notices that he looks a lot different.
Hester Prynne is taken to the scaffold in the market place so that she may be publicly shamed. While in the scaffold Hester thinks about her parents, her new life, and her childhood.
Hester Prynne mounts the scaffold in the month of June in The Scarlet Letter.
Hester Prynne stood on the scaffold for about three hours.
Hester thinks about her past while she is on the scaffold. She thinks about her family, her husband, and her time in Europe with him.
Hester and Pearl had been visiting Governor Bellingham's house, where they were discussing Pearl being taken away from Hester. On their way home, they stop at the scaffold where Hester was punished.
It has been seven years since Hester stood on the scaffold holding Pearl as an infant.
To face her consequences at the scaffold
Hester recognizes her husband, Roger Chillingworth, in the crowd as she stands on the scaffold. She notices him standing among the spectators, staring at her with a dark and vengeful expression.
Hester Prynne stood on the scaffold for several hours. She was publicly shamed and humiliated before the community as punishment for committing adultery.
Roger Chillingworth approaches Dimmesdale just as he invites Pearl and Hester to join him near the scaffold.
In "The Scarlet Letter," foreshadowing is used to hint at future events, such as Hester's public shaming in the first scaffold scene foreshadowing her later confrontation with Roger Chillingworth. Symbolism also plays a role in foreshadowing, like the scarlet letter itself serving as a constant reminder of Hester's sin and leading to her eventual redemption. Overall, Hawthorne's use of foreshadowing creates a sense of inevitability and tension in the narrative.
So that all of the village can look upon her as a sinner. It is also part of her punishment to stand on the scaffold for three hours.