Pearl he will not hold her and her mother’s hand on the scaffold in daylight when everyone can see signifies that the minister still does not have the courage to take responsibility for his sins. He has only acknowledged his sin to God and that they will all stand together on judgment day (148-149). On the platform his role is reversed. He is no longer the sullen and heartsick minister, but a wry man who laughs at everything that occurs on ground level. He is no longer the Christian minister, but the pagan whose screams were assumed to have come from a witch and finally, no one would believe that this church symbol, high with esteem and virtue, would be in the same place as Hester Prynne, the lowest woman in town (147).If anyone were to pass by the scaffold when the meteor shower lit up the night sky they would have seen the minister with his hand over his heart, Hester Prynne with the letter blazing on her breast, and Pearl, the link between the two. Instead the only observer happened to be Chillingworth who at this point already knows the truth (151). The fact that none of the townsfolk saw the minister at his moment of confession symbolizes that they don’t suspect anything of their minister. Also, the fact that Wilson walks by Dimmesdale without seeing him is another sign that the people can’t imagine their beloved clergyman being anywhere near sinful as Hester. The night on the scaffold differs from person to person. Dimmesdale sees it as self-acknowledgment and purification. Pearl sees it as a demerit on Dimmesdale’s part since it is nighttime, and the sexton, who found Dimmesdale’s gloves on the scaffold saw it as a trick by Satan to dispirit their minister (152-153).Near the end of the story Dimmesdale is giving his Election Day sermon. After the speech he is in the procession to the evening feast when he sees Hester and hesitates. As he turns to the scaffold he asks Hester and Pearl to join him. Chi...
