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Feminism In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

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The Scarlet Letter: Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter proves that feminism goes against all Puritan moral and religious grounds. Hawthorne’s purpose is to show how feminism goes against all Puritan moral and religious grounds in order to show the reader how Hester broke the moral and religious standards. Hawthorne supports his claim when Hester commits the sin and is not ashamed, when Hester makes decisions for Pearl and herself, and also when Reverend Dimmesdale comes to Hester’s aid in supporting her decisions. The Puritan church had a rigid structure that represses individuals, especially women. Hester is breaking free of the puritan mold by defying the churches set rules. Hester first does this when she commits the sin of …show more content…

After Hester is released from jail she moves Pearl and herself into an abandoned home on the outskirts of town. It is now up to Hester to provide for her family, much at the Puritan townspeople’s dismay. In Puritan society women did not make a living or make decisions for their family, this was the husbands job further causing Hester to be shunned. Hester even has to protect Pearl from being taken from her, “‘God gave me the child!’ cried she. ‘He gave her, in requital of all things else, which ye had taken from me. She is my happiness!- she is my torture, none the less! Pearl keeps me here in life! Pearl punishes me too! See ye not, she is the scarlet letter, only capable of being loved, and so endowed with a million-fold of the power of ribution for my sin? Ye shall not take her! I will die first!’”(Hawthorne 101). Mary Dyer also made a very important life decision that went against the churches rules. Mary was the only member of the community to leave in 1638 when Anne Hutchinson was excommunicated and banished from the colony because her religious views differed from the rest of the colonies (National Women's History Museum). Mary was also then excommunicated from the colony because she went against the ways of the church. Mary made a very important and at the time wrong decision and she faced the consequences like

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Killing a mother was beyond the cogitable for the town officials. Consequently, Pearl would teach Hester a lesson. From that day, Pearl was Hester 's everything. A glimmer of hope in Hester’s life that had become amiss. “ She named the infant ‘Pearl,’ as being of great price—purchased with all she had—her mother’s only treasure!

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We all have our battles. Each fight is different per person. Every victory celebrated, whilst every loss is a lesson to be learned. Hamlet, for example, had many battles faced from the very beginning. All of it, wrapping around the death of his father and his subconscious need to avenge him.

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The scholarly article that I read is “Nathaniel Hawthorne and the Feminists: The Scarlet Letter” by Louise DeSalvo. In the article, DeSalvo gives a short background of Nathaniel Hawthorne before he begins writing his novel The Scarlet Letter. After the death of his mother, Elizabeth Hawthorne, he began writing his novel. Elizabeth Hawthorne had become pregnant with her first child, Nathaniel Hawthorne, outside of marriage and she had been socially ostracized just like Hester Prynne. Elizabeth Hawthorne was also husbandless and she raised Nathaniel on her own on the fringes of society.

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(103). Hester believes that with social isolation there is no point to this life she lives in anymore. She has nothing to live for, if it not be her baby, who was a result of her sin, and she begs that they allow her to keep the only thing in the world, in life, that she has left. She believes that her child is the only thing that gives her strength to live through her punishment rightfully, and without her there would be no point in her living in the world. Avoiding the tragedy of losing Hester, who is still thought to be a very vital member of society, the governor and priest both decide to allow her to keep Pearl.

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Her isolation and the scarlet letter fastened to her bosom permitted her to look at the shortcomings of the society- as an outsider- that is typically overlooked by the civilians themselves. She discovers how women aren’t given power inside the community to think for themselves or make changes, and hence winds up stuck in the same mindset or beliefs. Due to the ideas shared by men, women begin to see themselves as inferior and are easily influenced in remaining silent. Unlike the other women in the Puritan community, Hester is depicted as a strong, unyielding lady- the “wild rosebush”-, who, despite being publicly shamed and mocked, helped the needy and disregarded others opinion of her. She isn’t stifled by the townspeople 's perspective of her, but rather is concerned about the way women are viewed upon, and feels that existence itself- is worthless for them.

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Her defiance becomes stronger and will carry her through different hardships. Her determination and lonely stand repeats again when she confronts Governor Bellingham over the issue of Pearl’s guardianship. When Bellingham wants to take Pearl away from Hester, Hester reply’s with, “God gave me the child! I will die first!”(Ch.). When also pressured even more for the child’s care, Hester pleads, “God gave her into my keeping.

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In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne goes against the ideals of the Puritan community by using topics, such as: adultery, hypocrisy, and revenge. Hawthorne uses Hester’s life and the people in her life to showcase each of these subjects and how much they can affect someone’s life. First, Hawthorne goes against the community by using the scandal between Hester and Dimmesdale and their adultery in order to challenge their Puritan way of life. “‘I fear! I fear!

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Nathaniel Hawthorne in The Scarlet Letter writes about a love affair between a Puritan Minister, Arthur Dimmesdale and a married woman, Hester Prynne. This affair results in the birth of their daughter Pearl, who later becomes important in the story. As a result of this forbidden relationship, Hester is condemned to public shame by wearing a Scarlet Letter. Because of the Scarlet Letter, Hester is looked down upon by the community and, at first Dimmesdale doesn’t receive any of the blame. Hawthorne uses his characters to represent transition and change in America in the 1800’s.

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The Scarlet Letter written by author Nathaniel Hawthorne is an American novel based on sin and the act of Adultery. This novel is based on the early days of the Massachusetts colony and shows how differently crimes are approached then from now. Hester Prynne commits the unfaithful crime of Adultery and not only does she have to serve for her punishment, but her daughter serves for it as well. Pearl, the symbol of an act of forbidden love and passion has to live with being the reminder of her mother 's misconduct for her entire life. Growing up in a small town with her reputation, it is hard for Pearl to have any kind of normality in her life.

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The Puritan society openly scorns her for her sin. Hester Prynne, portrayed as a symbol of sin within the puritan society, is an illustration of solidity through her determination, seclusion with the scarlet letter, and hard work ethic. Through all of the mocking and humiliation caused by the colony’s response to Hester’s sin, Hester continues to show strength for Pearl’s sake. “When the young woman--the mother of this child--stood fully revealed before the crowd, it seemed to be her first impulse to clasp the infant closely to her bosom; not so much by an impulse of motherly affection, as

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the burden of shame and anguish departed from her spirit” because the past seven years of her life were concentrated on this letter and without it she found herself again . However, Hawthorne tests her by keeping her daughter Pearl in her life as a constant reminder of her sin so she can never fully depart from her mistake. Pearl sees the letter on the ground and “suddenly

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Boogie was born Vladimir Milivojevich in Belgrade, the capital of what was then Yugoslavia and now Serbia. Boogie began photographing the civil war that ravaged his country in the 1990s, which has influenced his body of work. His style is dark and reflects subject matters that he typically shoots such as city degradation, protests and portraits of “skinheads”. Boogie is famous for his street photography and currently lives in Brooklyn but travels the world for his photography. He has had multiple solo exhibitions in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Milan, Istanbul and Los Angeles.

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Hester embraces Pearl as her daughter despite being a product of sin. Also against the will of the meaning of the scarlet letter, Hester starts helping the very Puritans that condemned her. Hawthorne describes that “Such helpfulness was found in her… that many people refuse to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification. They said that it meant Able;” (69). Hester chooses to help those in need as her alienation gave her empathy for outcasts after seeing from their point of view, and spending time on her own led her into becoming a freethinker.

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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.

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This effects her every day life going out in public and getting ridiculed by all the towns people she is surrounded by. Hester Prynne doesn’t just have to live with a mistake right on her shirt, but people also help her remember past. She does have her daughter or her “sole treasure.” The young girls name is pearl and she is not exactly like the others. It isn't easy because her and her mother are considered different in the community so she is lonely but very

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