The Scaffold and the Forest in The Scarlet LetterNathaniel Hawthorne's work, The Scarlet Letter, focuses on the small Puritan community of Boston in the 17th century. In the center of the city is a “…scaffold darkened by time…(234)” where sinners are made to face the public that condemns them. The accused are confronted with strange phenomena while on the scaffold: some become more courageous, others more gentle. And whether the public watches them or not, they become themselves on the scaffold. In essence, everything that is real and true happens on the scaffold, and everything that is illusion or hypocrisy happens everywhere else. The forest is also a setting where the characters find the truth about themselves. Most forest settlers are outsiders to society. They are not tainted by the opinions of the townspeople and can see past the lies and hypocrisy of the townspeople. People's experiences on the scaffold and in the forest lend themselves to a higher issue, that of reality versus perception. In Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne shows how people create their own reality with what they see. The scaffolding is not just a high vantage point over the market square, but a site where one can see beyond the constraints of the city and even the weather. For one person, "...the scaffold of the pillory was the vantage point which revealed to Hester Prynne how far she had come since her happy childhood (p65)". The experience of the scaffold has a profound effect on Hester. Living on the border between the city and the forest, she learns a new freedom by observing the conformist repression of the city. Hester sees what the townspeople don't know. She soon believes that because of her punishment on the scaffold and her perpetual reminder, the scarlet letter, she sees the sins of everyone in the town and the hypocrisy of keeping them secret. Thus, his time on the scaffold made him see the truth about the city and its lies. Reverend Dimmesdale has a similar experience on the scaffold. Troubled by his sins and his inability to confess them, the reverend climbs the pillory in the middle of the night to “confess” his sins to the world. Even though we see it, Dimmesdale feels " .