“Hester Prynne passed through this part of her ordeal and came to a sort of scaffold (51),” Hawthorne recounts in the opening scene of the novel, The Scarlet Letter. The gallows is a place of punishment. “This scaffolding constituted a part of a penal machine, which now, for two or three generations, has been among us merely historical and traditional, but was believed, in ancient times, to be an equally effective agent in the promotion of good. citizenship, as the guillotine always has been,” says Hawthorne, explaining the use of scaffolding. The gallows was accessed via wooden steps. The steps of the gallows became the path of death for many people before they were beheaded. A balcony or gallery was located above the platform and was attached to the meetinghouse. During Hester's punishment, the ministers and the governor sat in the gallery to question her. The gallows was located “at the western end” of the market square, near the church. The scaffold was a raised platform made of wood and iron. Men and women who sinned would be forced onto the gallows, to be beheaded or, in Hester's case, out of extreme embarrassment. Scaffold appears in the book three times, during three major scenes. The scenes are arranged evenly separated in the book, one at the beginning, one in the middle, and the final scene at the end. The first gallows scene includes Hester's punishment and open confession. While the third scaffold scene includes Dimmesdale's confession. In the second or middle gallows scene, both Hester and Dimmesdale are on the gallows in the middle of the night. Scaffold is introduced into the novel for its literal uses, but comes to symbolize and embody many other meanings. The gallows is a symbol of...... middle of paper......for his sin. Both in the novel and in everyday use the scaffolding has a certain connotation. For example, a person who was told that they would be scaffolded would most likely be afraid. However, a used scaffold could simply mean that it would be shored up. Similarly, in The Scarlet Letter all the Puritans fear punishment on the gallows. In the novel, the gallows is never used for public speaking or for a theatrical performance, but only for the confession of sins. Most Puritans did not realize that scaffolding could have many positive uses. Likewise, being scaffolded, by definition, is just as likely to be a good action as a bad one. Unfortunately, most of the historical documentation of the gallows refers to executions and punishments. Therefore, the word scaffold can do many beneficial things for humanity, but it carries with it a very negative aura.