Ending of SL

The ending of Scarlet Letter includes a third and final scaffold scene of the novel. This scaffold is similar in many ways to the previous two. In the third scaffold scene, it is election day, and thus there are many people there, including all the townspeople and the native americans. In the first scaffold scene, all these people were there too, to see Hester face her guilt. The conflict in the final scaffold scene is man vs. self and man vs. man. In here, Dimmesdale is the the one who is pertaining to the conflict. He is facing himself becuase he is going on the scaffold and has the guts to let out his sin, finally. He has tolerated his pain that he has on his chest for nearly 7 years now. He is also man vs. society, becuase he is in front of the whole village when he lets out his sin. Thus he has to face the reactions of the crowd when he shows then what is on his chest. The symbol of this scaffold is shame, sin, and unity. It shows unity because this is when Hester, DImmesdale and Pearl are unitying together for the first time on the scaffold. Dimmesdale calls Pearl onto the scaffold to come with him. "He turned towards the scaffold, and stretched forth his arms." (p.277). The scaffold scene also shows shame and sin because Dimmeadale is revealing his sin, and has to go through shame upon revealing his sin, which is probably why he dies right there and then.