The three scaffold scenes in The Scarlet Letter tell of the trials and tribulations many of the characters receive. These scenes especially center on the young Reverend Dimmesdale. Reverend Dimmesdale's trials with confession follow him throughout the entire story. These three scenes depict the journey to confession Dimmesdale takes, beginning with the first time Hester and Pearl stand alone on the scaffold, followed by Dimmesdale accompanying Hester and Pearl in the night, and ending with all three of them standing on the scaffold in front of the entire town.

During the first of the three scaffold scenes Dimmesdale does not accompany Hester and Pearl up on the scaffold. He cannot admit his sinfulness in direct words at this moment because at this time no one in the town knows that Dimmesdale is Pearl's father. While Hester and Pearl stand on the scaffold, Dimmesdale tells them and the whole...