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Expectations And Standards Of Society In The Scarlett Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

988 Words4 Pages

Expectations and standards of society are often forced on women who are shamed for having a different lifestyle or demeanor. These expectations can cause their self-identity to deteriorate as they change into who others want them to be rather than who they want to be. Social media like TikTok and Instagram have caused trends in modern society to rapidly change. Seemingly overnight, something that was deemed popular by an influencer is now “cringy”. Many people feel pressure to keep up with these trends to help themselves better fit into an expectation. Consumer trends like fast fashion and over-consumption further influence fast-changing trends. Beauty standards and different lifestyles go in and out of style creating confusion and complex …show more content…

When Hester moved to Boston, she stood out. She had moved to Boston and had planned on meeting her husband there but after a few years, he still had not shown up. The people in her community as well as herself thought that he was dead because he hadn’t shown up. Everyone knew that her husband wasn’t with her, so when she had Pearl, she was harshly judged by the people around her. Purity was a very important value in Puritan society and they disliked Hester because she had broken that value. As people’s comments become harsher, Hester begins to change. In the beginning of The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne describes Hester as “the young woman was tall, with a figure of perfect elegance… she had dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam, and a face which… had the impressiveness belonging to a market brow and deep black eyes” (Hawthorne 50). She is described as a beautiful person whose appearance is seemingly flawless. After she has Pearl and people have learned her “secret”, she is no longer seen as beautiful. Hawthorne describes her as revolting and hard to look at. She changes her clothes to muted colors and covers her hair. Her change in appearance represents the change in her identity. Her previously colorful and unique personality changed into a cookie-cutter style and personality that matched the other women in Puritan society. She also covers her hair which I think represents her covering her personality. As she begins to cover her hair and change how she dresses, she loses part of her identity. Hester is praised by people in society for volunteering and helping out those in need and she dresses similarly to them. While she feels like she fits into Puritan society, she doesn’t feel like herself. Hester feels pressure from the Puritans to

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Although she is described as physically attractive, her inner beauty reflects her attractiveness from the outside, allowing her to bear the burden of the scarlet letter with dignity and grace. In contrast to the Puritan society’s expectations, Hester’s charmer reveals her pure and innocent heart. Hawthorne’s use of physiognomy in Hester’s character highlights the irony of the situation, as her beauty contradicts society’s perception of her as a sinner. Overall, Hester’s beauty reflects her true character and defies the societal expectations imposed on

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On the other hand Hester doesn’t want or try getting attention through her actions. Also she becomes an outcast of the Puritan community and she slowly finds her way back through hard work and showing she cares. Secondly the way the two characters

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This shows how ungrateful and judgemental her society is. All things considered, through these many skills Hester accomplishes, the meaning of the scarlet letter, embroidered on her chest, changes in meaning from ‘adulterer’ to ‘able.’ This eventually leads to women looking up to her and going to her for advice. As a result, “the scarlet letter ceased to be a stigma which attracted the world’s scorn and bitterness, and became a type of something to be sorrowed over, and looked upon with awe, yet with reverence too” (Hawthorne 257). Hester’s experiences living with society, as they looked down upon her, eventually changes the way society looks at people and the choices they make.

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While her punishment changes her physical appearance, it has a far more profound effect on her character. Hester seems much older and worn down with the scarlet letter on her bosom. To Hester, the scarlet letter is a

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We are introduced to Hester by hearing the description of fervor, “A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments, and gray, steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods and other bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes” (Hawthorne 45). The idea that a character is introduced with such distinction shows the ostracization the character will deal with. The importance of this quote is not only exhibited by its words but also it’s place in the novel, by being the introduction to Hester and the first words of the novel, immense value and deeper meaning is added than it would have if the quote had been later on. Hester is talked among the townspeople as a “... woman [who] has brought shame upon us all, and [she] ought to die.” This is the pinnacle of shame she experiences and as the novel progressed so did the towns folks’ opinions.

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Hester and her daughter, Pearl, were constantly ridiculed by the inhabitants of the town, and many citizens believed that Hester deserved a harsher penalty for her actions. One woman mocked Hester while gossiping with her peers when she declared, “‘This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die’” (36). Agreeing with this claim, many of the villagers continued to mock and scrutinize not only Hester’s actions, but Hester herself. Another woman suggested that “‘a brand of hot iron [should have been put] on Hester Prynne’s forehead’” (36). While this sentence seems less harsh than death, this woman’s comment proves that she too believed that Hester deserved a severe punishment for her despicable sin.

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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.

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Due to the fast pace of mass media, and how fast trends change, no one is given the chance to be themselves. People aren’t given a single moment to question if they are contributing anything meaningful to the world. Society is so caught up in being just like celebrities and influencers, that they completely lose themselves in it. This generation suffers from the want to be like everyone else, and we are left with nothing unique and nothing different. The change in fashion, music, and even language, leads to an even greater desire to be the same.

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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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Through this process, she developed a strong sense of self and learned to reject the limitations society imposed on her because she was a woman. Hester started to doubt the tight gender roles and suppression of female independence that were a result of Puritanical principles. Hester resisted being reduced to nothing more than her sin, despite the Puritan community's efforts to silence and shame her. Hester is described as wild in her personality, imagination, intellect, and will, due to the fact that he holds both feminine and masculine attributes. She doesn't conform to Puritan society, and through the isolation from society, she was able to think for herself and form feminist

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Enough evidence was given in the book that Hester deserves the punishment. To prove that she does, Hester was raised as a Puritan so she knew what would be the consequences she has committed adultery and is left with a baby alone to raise without a father role model. As well she is not suited to be a mother. She can’t keep Pearl.

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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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Not only could Hester not work to her full ability, she also was shamed by the public. While she was to stand on the scaffolding, the townswomen would whisper about Hester. “There was, moreover, a boldness and rotundity of speech among these matrons, as most of them seemed to be” (Hawthorn pg. 35 ) Hester faced judgment from the townspeople no matter how hard she worked to achieve a better life. As time passed their shaming went down, but she was never able to have a normal place in their society, because everyone's first impression of her would the the red letter of her

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Receiving the scarlet letter changed every aspect of Hester’s life. Especially at the start of the story, the letter symbolized the solitude and great suffering Hester faced just because of a letter placed on her bosom. The “A” also depicted how no one viewed Hester the same way as before her peccant actions. “…she saw that, owing to the peculiar effect of this convex mirror, the scarlet letter was represented in exaggerated and gigantic proportions, so as to be greatly the most prominent feature of her appearance” (Hawthorne 109). The pejorative community Hester lived in never saw Hester as the beautiful, young woman she was, but now, as a horrible fiend.

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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.

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