Dimmesdale, Hester, and Pearl. In this scene, the letter actually represents two things. One of them is angel. One of the townsmen has just passed away and they believed that it was his angel overhead. The second symbol is forgiveness. This was the second major scaffold scene and this was when Dimmesdale finally goes on the scaffold for forgiveness. This is the first time that he has openly admitted to have been apart of Hesters sin.Throughout the book there are examples of when Pearl has almost some kind of supernatural ability to see things the way that they really are. A child these young with these gifts of perception would definitely have been viewed evil in Puritan society. It was assumed to be some type of witchcraft. This is even more obvious with the observations that she makes. When Pearl questions her mother as to where she came from, the response typically was "the Heavenly Father." Pearl then proceeds to point at Hester's scarlet letter and replies that she did not come from the heavenly father. This statement at such a young age reflects that not only does she recognize herself as an evil outcast from the Christians but also somewhat of a heretical statement. These two different conflicting groups of symbols are more than likely nothing more than a resentment of Hawthorn's Puritan upbringing, but do say a lot about Puritan society. Hawthorne when writing this book, wanted it to be read on many different levels and is why he used so many symbols. Most of them are easily seen, but many are not. A reader should read this book and then re-read it to see the true power of this literature. Hawthorne is a great writer and it shows in his symbolism....
