Loise Velazquez
Mrs. Cronan
AP English 11, Block 3
December 15, 2015
Feminism Rough Draft Often women in literature function as indicators of evil. Through the destructive, and sometimes malicious, actions of the temptresses, vice is introduced into a previously peaceful society. This employment of women as destructive forces is clear in the Bible; Eve is the cause of original sin and Delilah is responsible for cutting off Samson’s hair and causing his downfall. However, in The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne allows the reader to perceive a woman forming her own decisions without causing the society around her to fall into ruin. He allows Hester to embody modern day feminist qualities, specifically characteristics of the cultural feminist
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Moreover, when a woman becomes pregnant it is a physical sign that makes the promiscuity a known fact. Hester pays a different price from Dimmesdale, who's secret is hidden throughout the story, because she is a woman. This illustrates the inequality between the two. By committing adultery, Hester defies her moral obligations towards her husband. When he arrives in Boston, however, she affirms her submissiveness to him by promising to keep quiet about his true identity. After seven years, when she sees what Chillingworth is doing to Dimmesdale, she will no longer keep quiet. Hester decides to go against Chillingworth's wishes, and thereby achieves full independence from her husband. "She determined to redeem her error, so far as it might yet be possible. Strengthened by years of hard and solemn trial, she felt herself no longer so inadequate to cope with Roger Chillingworth . . . She had climbed her way, since then, to a higher point." (p.167) So in the end she is not submissive to Chillingworth, just like she is not submissive to the Puritan authorities in the long run because she adheres to a higher law. "The scarlet letter had not done its office." (p.166) It was supposed to reduce Hester and put her in her proper place, but instead it has made her a revolutionary. The inequality she experiences causes Hester to speculate on the existing balance of power and impel her to find alternatives to traditional patriarchal society. This is another aspect of her psychological liberation. "She assumed a freedom of speculation . . . which our forefathers, had they known of it, would have held to be a deadlier crime than that stigmatized by the scarlet letter."
Hester finds community service, whereas the minister's sin-related repercussions cause him immense distress and a physical and emotional breakdown. Chillingworth steps in as the go-between to help Hester and Dimmesdale realize what they are going through. He evolves into someone even nastier than he was before. He devises a plan to undermine Hester's reputation, which was already in jeopardy. Tarnishing Hester’s reputation was Chillingworth’s way of getting back at Hester for the humiliation that she caused him.
When Hester responds to Chillingworth’s comment regarding the removal of the scarlet letter, she replies by saying that the magistrates do not obtain the power to take off her letter. She adds that if the symbol were worthy to be removed, it would have fallen off or have transformed into a something that would express a different meaning. Chillingworth replies to this by telling her to wear it if it suits her best. He states that a woman must follow her own whims when dressing herself. Chillingworth’s response comes off as indifferent and sarcastic.
Hester and Dimmesdale have both committed adultery, but Hester accepts and embraces what has happened. Alternatively, for Dimmesdale, enduring seven long years of guilt and sin are required to get him to finally reveal the truth. Taking so many years to do so shows how
The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in the nineteenth century, provides insight into the social stigma surrounding gender equality in his own community and era. Throughout the chapters, Hawthorne's uses Hester to provide a direct reflection to the lives of women in the nineteenth century. Hawthorne employs devices such as specified diction which pertains to each individual character, multiple shifts in the tone used in order to draw attention to shifts in judgment or beliefs of characters, and imagery in order to validate his overall personal belief that women deserve the autonomy and respect that men have possessed for centuries. Hawthorne uses the Scarlet Letter as a novel for social change by characterizing Hester as a woman
Because of this, she gets Dimmesdale involved and Chillingworth who we short after find out is Hester's husband. Everything from here begins to get even worse because of Hester and her actions. Hester never
During her period of life on the margins of the community, Hester appears as an obedient and meek woman, one who has accepted the punishment meted out to her and who will make no demands upon the community. Hester is not resentful like Abigail. She acts charitably toward those around her, even when they scorn her. Even though she does want to leave town with Dimmesdale at one point, she realizes that doing so would be an act of running away from the truth. The different attitudes of the two women are clear in this
Yet, despite the heavy burden she has to bear, she acts more civil than most of the characters do in the entirety of “The Scarlet Letter”. Instead of her guilt and shame tearing her down, she chose to rise above it as seen in this quote; “she [Hester] repelled him, by an action marked with natural dignity and force of character, stepped into the open air, as if by her own free will.” (50 Hawthorne) No doubt at this time, Hester’s heart is filled with pain and worry. After all, these were people she has known for some time and perhaps has even befriended.
WHile Hester suffered from ridicule and shame from her neighbors, she presents feminist spirit in her conscious. Hester develops a strong spirit and mind. Wang notes that the feminism is carefully placed throughout the story. He analyzes Hester's refusal and determination when she is asked who the father of her baby is. This showed her individualism and her determination to stand alone without a man by her side.
Hester and Dimmesdale each are equivalent in the sin that they commit, but their lives and fates are different because Hester had to repent for her crimes while Dimmesdale bottled up his guilt inside. The indirect result of Dimmesdale’s concealment of the truth was Chillingworth’s torture, which played a large role in Dimmesdale’s untimely death. Chillingworth snapped when Hester did not reveal Dimmesdale’s crimes. Hester, in part, helped Dimmesdale in
She is brave and does not deny that she sinned. She realizes that she needs to let go of the misery that the scarlet letter has brought upon her. Rather than letting it define her, Hester uses the letter. She helps out in the community. It does not define who she is.
The townspeople “[began] to look upon the scarlet letter as a token, not of that one sin, for which she had borne so long and dreary a penance, but of her many good deeds since.” This quote exemplifies how sin is not a death sentence for Hester. Through hard work and charity it allowed the rigid Puritan society to see her as something different, and as someone who would not let society define who she was. Hester, thus, was not only able to change herself, but also the image in which society viewed her by working hard to benefit the public. Likewise, the scarlet letter which was supposed to represent sin was instead “fantastically embroidered with gold thread, upon her bosom.”
Throughout the novel, Hester is fraught by the Puritan society and her suffering is an effect of how evil society is. Hester continues to believe that the crime she committed was not wrong and she should not be punished for it. Her desire to protect and love Dimmesdale, turn her into a stronger person and become a heroine in the book. Although society still views her as a “naughty baggage” (Hawthorne 73) and is punished for her wrongdoing, Hester never thought to take revenge on them, yet she gives everything she has to the unfortunate and leaves herself with very little. She continues to stay positive no matter what society has for her.
Hester Prynne is the very embodiment of feminism because of her refusal to adhere to the societal norms, her independence in thought, and how the view of the society around her changes through the novel. One of the main reasons why Hester Prynne is an important and progressive feminist character in The Scarlet Letter is her refusal to follow societal norms or to be put down by her peers. A primary example of her refusal to be put down by her peers is when Hester brandishes her
The great scene of grief, in which the wild infant bore a part, had developed all her sympathies; and as her tears fell upon her father’s cheek, they were the pledge that she would grow up amid human joy and sorrow, nor for ever do battle with the world, but be a woman in it. (175) Therefore, it is clear that Hester wanted for Pearl and Dimmesdale to unite in order for Pearl to have a better life, and for her to embrace her sexuality too, to embrace that she is a woman. As a result, it is clear that Hester chose to beg for the assistance of Dimmesdale, not because she could not raise Pearl on her own, but because she wanted Pearl to learn from her mother’s mistakes, as well as have a father figure in her life– even if it was only for a short while. Hester Prynne is a strong woman who managed to merge her sexuality with societal demands throughout the novel.
(Hall, 127). This idea of a fair and just society was the centerpiece of Puritan society, and it subsequently led to the virtue of community over the individual which was previously discussed. When it comes to The Scarlet Letter, the ideology that Puritan morality is fundamental to everything is truly front and center. Hester’s struggle due to her past sin is a perfect example of this; The ministry attempted to purify and protect the community by excluding Hester from societal affairs, even going as far as attempting to strip Hester of her custody of Pearl. Overall, Hester’s forced