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Comparing The Scarlet Letter And Trifles In Susan Glaspell's Tri

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Recommended: Feminism in patriarchal society

From the 1600’s, to the 1900’s, to even the present day, there is one issue that has been a point of controversy for centuries. This issue is the case of mainstream patriarchal society systematically oppressing women of all ages and backgrounds. Although The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Trifles by Susan Glaspell are works of fiction, both touch upon society’s common belief that women were distrustful, deceitful, and simple-minded. Despite the fact that the events of each take place hundreds of years apart, both works share one exceedingly important aspect-- the respective societies both are based in cater to men and men only. Both The Scarlet Letter and Trifles feature situations in which conflict occurs, and due to the harmful …show more content…

During her relationship with Dimmesdale, she takes advantage of her husband’s absence and completely goes against the sanctity of their marital vows. Although it was true that she committed all of these acts, there were additional circumstances that should have been considered by the townsfolk before utterly condemning Hester. No one considered the state of her marriage, which was quite rocky and forced. This is shown as Hester reflects upon her discussion with Chillingworth on the beach, “And it seemed a fouler offence committed by Roger Chillingworth than any which had since been done him, that, in the time when her heart knew no better, he had persuaded her to fancy herself happy by his side” (Hawthorne 121). Chillingworth essentially manipulates Hester into marrying him, even though he was well aware that she would not be happy with him in the long run. None of this so much as crosses the minds of the citizens of Boston. In their eyes, the affair was entirely Hester’s fault, and thus she should be punished as such. This is quite an unfair way to go about reaching a verdict. Due to the time period, it is hardly a surprise that as a woman she is held to much stricter standards than the male characters of The Scarlet

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Chillingworth came to Boston to dig up who impregnated Hester. He seemed to have very little interest in Hester, his main goal was to find out the truth about Pearl’s father. As he does this, he twists the mind of Reverend Dimmesdale and becomes toxic. He becomes obsessed with trying to get vengeance on Dimmesdale for impregnating Hester. As the years go on, even the physical

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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.

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Chillingworth is given a session with Hester as a mean to calm her down. In this session, Hester states that she has wronged Chillingworth by committing adultery. Then Chillingworth states that they have both wronged each other, his being the first as he took advantage of Hester’s youth and then married her, thus creating a broken love.

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Chillingworth knew that Hester was not in love with him, that the marriage was forced against her will, and he made no effort to repay her or to even commit. There was no reason

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The work is not yet complete, and is evident by looking at the domination of women throughout the centuries, specifically the 19th and 20th century, which was the height of the women’s rights movement. By analyzing two literary works from two different eras, “The Yellow Wallpaper” written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in the late 19th century and “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” written by Adrienne Rich in the mid-20th century, one can conclude that while there have been improvements to women’s rights, there is still discrimination prevalent. Although set in two different time periods, the main

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Some may say Hester's sin was justifiable, some may say not. Either was, no one is free of sin. In this Puritan society mans law is God's law. They can’t speak to God, but they still hand out punishments for him. Roger Chillingworth’s wife that he sent ahead of him to the new world, cheated on him and had a child

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1611 Words | 7 Pages

There is no question that women have struggled over many years to be seen as equals by their male counterparts. Years of struggle and oppression continued throughout time, but the oppression took different forms over the course of history. Susan Glaspell wrote, “Trifles” which explores a woman’s status in society during the 1920s and the political leanings that perverted society at the time. The play demonstrates how women were subjected to mental abuse and viewed as intellectually inferior as dictated by American society and politics. “Trifles” exposes how political leanings in the government favored and enabled a patriarchal society as well as displaying how the Women’s Rights movement was beginning to combat these prejudices.

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867 Words | 4 Pages

Unfortunately, another townsperson says, “Madame Hester absolutely refuseth to speak, and the magistrates have laid their heads” (Hawthorne 95). At this point, Chillingworth understands Hester had a child, which results in a transition. Also, Hester asks, “Why dost thou smile so at me?” (Hester 116). Here, Chillingworth becomes angered, but manages his anger well.

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She receives three punishments from the townspeople, who claim they will free her from her sin. The community orders Hester to go to jail, wear a scarlet letter on her chest, and stand on the town scaffold for hours. Hester wears her scarlet letter proudly on her chest, and endures much suffering because of her public ridicule. Hester is “kept by no restrictive clause of her condemnation within the limits of the Puritan settlement” after she was released from prison, but she chooses to stay (Hawthorne 71). Later, Hester’s child, Pearl, symbolizes the Puritan view of Hester.

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Guilt vs. Judgment in The Scarlet Letter In The Scarlet Letter Hester Prynne is judged by everyone in 17-century Boston, where everyone knows the crime that she has committed with her paramour Arthur Dimmesdale, who also is the town's Reverend. The townspeople are very harsh in their personal opinions of Hester. Some even go as far as to say that she should be branded by “the flesh of her forehead.” (Hawthorne 59)

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Quen Head Comp 2 11:30 Literary Analysis “Trifles” Gender Roles Everyone around the world has a mindset that certain genders have certain rules in relationships and everyday life. The author, Susan Glaspell, showed many ways in the story “Trifles” how males can look at things in a different perspective than women sometimes do. For generations, women have fought for power and rights, one of the biggest events in history is The Women’s Rights’ Movement starting in 1848 and going on for years until 1920 when the 19th amendment that granted American women the right to vote. Throughout history the fight between women and men has been a long process from rights, to gender specific roles in career, pay, and equality.

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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.”

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Hester bitterly announces hatred toward her once-beloved man, Roger Chillingworth, as she says, “Yes! I hate him! ... He betrayed me! He has done me worse wrong than I did him!” (154).

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601 Words | 3 Pages

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

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In the “Scarlet Letter,” Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays hypocrisy of the Puritan society, where the protagonist Hester Prynne face many consequences of her actions and the how she tries to redeem herself to the society. During the seventeenth puritans believe that it is their mission to punish the ones who do not follow God’s word and it is their job to stop those from sinning. Therefore, the hypercritical puritan society punishes Hester harshly for committing adultery, but in Hester’s mind, she believes that what she did was not a sin but acts of love for her man. Eventually, she redeems herself by turning her crime into an advantage to help those in need, yet the Puritan society still view her as a “naughty bagger.” (Hawthorne 78)

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