Amanda Paulhus
12-13-12
Period B
Feminist critique
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter through a feminist lens
A feminist lens used to analyze Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter reveals that men and women can have exchanged roles in both society and home life through Hester Prynne and Dimmesdale. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is a single mother who raises a child on her own. The father of the baby is unknown to others in the town and Hester is ridiculed for it. The father does not take on a role in Hester’s family life but he does portray an important role in society. Nathaniel Hawthorne shows an appreciation for women through his determination of Hester Prynne’s role in society. Nina Baym writes about Hester Prynne’s role in The Scarlet Letter as well as her duality with feminism. Mark Richard Barna writes as a synopsis explanation of how Hester’s sin is unpardonable, as presented in the novel. Millicent Bell explains Hester’s situation as a prophecy and explains reasoning for the outcome. In a feminist lens, Nathaniel Hawthorne explores Hester’s situation with a feminist view in order to portray that both men and women can take on vital roles in society that go against typical stereotypes.
Through a feminist lens, it is expressed that Hester Prynne’s role is a contrast with stereotypical women. Hester Prynne does not carry shame with her possession of the scarlet letter, something known as a burden in the Puritan society. Hester thinks of “her letter as a badge of honor instead of a mark of negation” (Baym 1). Wearing the scarlet letter in pride is an anomaly during the Puritan society because it is a symbol for adultery. Because she is a woman her commitment of adultery is more highly frowned upon in the town. Hester changes a symbol of shame to a beautiful symbol she “converted the letter into her own statement by fantastic flourishes of gold embroidery…so that it looks like a badge of honor while it reinforces her condemnation” (Bell 1). If she had been shameful, as she was supposed to be, of her sin she would be controlled by it and not respected in society. She sets an example for the town and publicly reinforces her true innocence. She manages to gain respect because of her pride and self-respect in despite of her mistake. Hester’s ability to take honor away from a symbol of such treachery shows she “is a model and a counterstatement” (Baym 1). Hester carries pride for her sin in town throughout a struggle to gain respect from everyone in society. She is indeed a counterstatement because she does the opposite of what one who wears the scarlet letter is supposed to do. Although Hester was publically humiliated she had “no wish of gaining anything” (Hawthorne 147). She plays a fitful role through society and serves as a catalyst changes people in the town even though she had no wish of doing so. She simply wanted to raise her daughter Pearl and stay able to do so. Considering she feels this way, she is truly portrayed as a model. Her capability to not give into stereotypes is conclusive that she is a role model for women during this puritan era.
Hester Prynne’s sin is portrayed as unpardonable even though she expresses a non stereotypical response. Mark Richard Barna explains the importance of this in his article Nathaniel Hawthorne and the unpardonable sin. Hester Prynne’s choice to commit adultery is unpardonable because of her puritan religion but, given her situation Hawthorne feels a “deep sadness tinged with sympathy for the human condition” (Barna 1). Hawthorne writes Hester as a single mother but gives herself respect and shows that he has a respect for women in his life. During the 1600’s, the setting in which The Scarlet Letter was written, this type of sin was far more so judged than in today’s systems. It is though that it is possible that people are “born into the world with a tendency to sin” (Barna 1). Because babies are born into the world with no perception of what it is like or how to do things they are apt to sin because they are unaware of what is sin and what is right. Mark Richard Barna is basically trying to defend Hester because she did not know right from wrong in her situation. Woman are not given the same respect in society during the 1600’s as they are now with “a tendency to speculation, though it may keep woman quiet” they were found inferior to men and punished differently (Hawthorne152).Nathaniel Hawthorne contrasts the punishments of men and woman and explains that society needs “to be torn down” and created equal for man and woman. Hawthorne’s respect for women is shown through Hester’s characteristics.
Hester now has to play both the role of a typical mother and a father; she is evidence that stereotypes are incorrect. She was “alone in the world…and with little Pearl to be guided and protected” she had to take on an opposing role in order to raise her child (Hawthorne 150). She is a respite from stereotypical women. She goes through the most hardship and has “never put forward even the humblest title to share in the world’s privileges” (Hawthorne 147). She has no hope of gaining privilege but a hope of gaining respect and showmanship for raising her daughter. Hester was able to provide for her child even though her situation was undesirable and she had no father for Pearl. In giving her this ability Nathaniel Hawthorne shows a further respect for women and their abilities as well as their strength. Hester is a philanthropic character and she entails a condemnation she will never escape but, she still feels love for the people around her and wants to help them. Hester was “hopeless of retrieving her position” (Hawthorne 150). She wanted to be able to provide everything for Pearl, and she did. She gave up everything for her, alike to the Pearl of Great price that a man gave away everything for this pearl. Hester is considered an “Adulterous heroine” because she saves her daughter from a life of hardship (Bell 2). She set an example for women in the town and represents a new awakening of pride for women. She is very distraught from the way of other people in town because they are firm believers of the puritan religion as was Hester but she now sees the fault in puritan law.
There are many allusions in The Scarlet Letter that allude to feminist figures. There is an allusion to Adam and Eve which presents Hester as Eve. “…the infant was worthy to be brought forth in Eden…after the world’s first parents were driven out” (Hawthorne 86).Hester is symbolically compared to Eve. Since both Eve and Hester committed a sin, they were both punished. This is symbolic because Eve and Hester both have children born from sin. Although allusion is lacking in use, the way it is used essentially shapes the opinion of the reader and how they chose to view Hester as a person. Through a feminist lens, Hester is created in the image of the first mother, Eve, who is an important allusion in religion.
Through a feminist lens, Nathaniel Hawthorne presents the interchangeable roles of women and men in his novel The Scarlet Letter. The aforementioned quotations explain how Hester Prynne is evidence of the ability of women and men to take on one another’s roles in society. Nathaniel Hawthorne presents respect for Hester Prynne from the moment her sin is known. Nina Baym, Millicent Bell, and Mark Richard Barna substantiate that Hester represents the reality that men and women have the same ability to play roles in society and that they are interchangeable. The solution to the vilification in The Scarlet Letter is presented multiple times throughout the course of Hester and Pearl’s life but the final solution is the end for minister Dimmesdale and the death of Chillingworth, Hester’s husband. Hester later returns to the cottage years later. The fact that Hester Prynne survives her sin and her partner in crime, minister Dimmesdale does not shows Nathaniel Hawthorne’s respect for women. If Hester had dies and the men had lived Hawthorne’s beliefs would have been compromised.
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