Daisy Buchanan's Treatment Of Women In The Great Gatsby

Does the male domination today compare to the extensive sexism of women throughout history? The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and The Great Gatsby, by Scott Fitzgerald, both coherently portray women in American history as submissive to male authority. The Scarlet Letter is a novel based in the 17th century where Hester Prynne, an adulteress, is stripped of her identity through public humiliation, but defies the societal views of her town and bravely accepts her faults. In The Great Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan is portrayed as a perfect, high-class, and beautiful women whom all men fall in love with the idea of her. In both of these respected works of American literature, Daisy Buchanan and Hester Prynne contrast in the roles they partake

Daisy is married to Tom, she has an affair with her previous lover Gatsby. "You're not going to take care of her any more." "I'm not?" Tom opened his eyes wide and laughed. He could afford to control himself now. ‘Why's that?’ ‘Daisy's leaving you.’ ‘Nonsense.’’"I am, though’ she said with a visible effort "(74). In this scene, Gatsby makes Tom aware that Daisy and himself have been having a close connection and they would like to rebuild the relationship they had before he left for the war. When Tom is informed of Daisy’s affair, he does not directly punish Daisy, he becomes infuriated at the idea of losing his wife, whom he views as a luxury, which would possess a likeliness of possibly being viewed as lesser in society. He does not punish/blame Daisy for she is highly appreciated by men due to her high social standings and beautiful looks, but still seen as an inferior individual who should always be subordinate to the male dominance. On the other hand, Hester Prynne was publicly mocked and humiliated for her act of adultery due to her insignificance in the town hierarchy. "Man had marked this woman's sin by a scarlet letter, which had such potent and disastrous efficacy that no human sympathy could reach her, save it mere sinful like herself" (82). Hester was forced to have the letter “A” embroidered on her clothing so that no one could forget her sin and feel pity for her unfortunate lifestyle. Not only did society inflict the the preconceived ideas of women on Hester, but she was also scorned and punished for her unacceptable act of infidelity. If Hester were to have a higher social standing, it is likely that her actions and punishment would have been evaluated much differently. Likewise to the differences these women acquire in their punishments, Hester and