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Gender Roles In Adrienne Rich's The Scarlet Letter

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Feminist Adrienne Rich argues in her essay, “When We Dead Awaken: Writing as Re-Vision,” that there are drastic differences between the established gender roles in society. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, Hester, an adulteress and martyr, suffers from the strict grasp of Puritanism and patriarchy. Throughout the novel, Hester is a luxury to men, especially the revered minister and secret sinner, Dimmesdale, as well as her husband, Chillingworth. However, the rest of this male-dominated, Puritan society, or the world as she perceives it, is not a luxury for Hester, but a necessity. Thus, the relationship between Hester and the men in her society demonstrates and proves Rich’s argument regarding the distinctions between gender roles. In Rich’s essay, she states that “…historically men and women have played very different parts in each others’ lives” (Rich). Rich claims that women …show more content…

With the continuous, generous contributions towards the poor, the rich, and the rest of the townspeople along with her sewing skills, the town’s view of Hester changes. However, even with this change, the town continues to use Hester while still disparaging her and ignoring her efforts to reintegrate into society. In fact, even after the reveal of the secret sinner’s identity and the establishment of a promising future for her daughter, Hester is abused in that “people brought all their sorrows and perplexities, and besought her counsel” (Hawthorne, 180) at no cost, due to the expectations forced upon her. In summary, through the interactions between Hester and the patriarchal society as well as the men, it is evident that there are notable differences between gender roles where woman is nothing more than a luxury. Even though centuries separate the Puritan age from the present, the imbalance of gender roles and male dominance remains in our society

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Considering the townspeople’s reactions toward Hester’s sin of adultery, it can be concluded that in the Puritan era, religion was of utmost importance, and the Puritans met sins with extremely harsh punishments. Because the majority of the Puritan town viewed Hester as a disgrace, she became “Lonely . . . and without a friend on earth” (56). This made it effortless for the inhabitants of the town to continue to insult and degrade Hester because they did not care to learn her true personality. While a few civilians had sympathy for Hester, the town mostly regarded her as shameful and

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This shows that Hester does not necessarily need to worry about what the people of Boston think of her or how she needs to redeem herself in order to fit back into the society. When Hawthorne says “The angel and apostle of the coming revelation must be a woman, indeed, but lofty, pure, and beautiful; and wise, moreover, not through dusky grief, but the ethereal medium of joy; and showing how sacred love should make us happy, by the truest test of a life successful to such an end!” he is showing how there is no way for Hester to change her society. She should have love and joy, but instead she is faced with guilt, which leads to her downfall. Along with this, Hawthorne demonstrates how the people of Boston are actually the sinners while Hester and Dimmesdale represent the Angel and the Saint of the city.

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Hester not only serves punishment upon the scaffold, but she also completes charitable actions, leading the townspeople to think highly of her. They found a “. . . helpfulness. . . in her. . . [with] much power to do, and power to sympathize. . .”

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This is shown when Hester was repeatedly shunned and ridiculed by her fellow townspeople, who saw her as a symbol of sin and moral corruption. The men in the novel, particularly the ministers and judges, were shown to be deeply misogynistic, treating them with contempt and disdain. This goes back to the beginning of the novel where Hester was forced to stand on a scaffold and display the scarlet letter for all to see. The men in the town gathered around her and heaped insults and abuse upon her, while the women looked on in silence, seemingly unable to defend or support her. Another example of a victim of misogyny in The Scarlet Letter was Pearl, the daughter of Hester, and because of her mother’s sin, Pearl was mistreated by members of the community as she was seen as the product of her mother’s infidelity.

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Even though the Puritans may have designated the letter as a representation of sin, Hester’s renewed sense of pride does not want society to define the A for her. Rather Hester wants to define it herself and by doing so she develops responsibility and power over her own actions. Because Hester has the power to change who she is, she also has the power to change what the Scarlet Letter represents. By letting the letter be “embroidered with gold thread” readers are able to see how for Hester sin is not something to be fearful of; furthermore, it allows one to see how Hester has developed into an independent individual who accepts who she is and the situation she is presented with. Hester’s lover unfortunately

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The society’s intentions to portray themselves as pure individuals while condemning Hester for her sins even though they mask their own, highlights the hypocritical nature of the society. Ultimately, by the use of the supernatural character of Mistress Hibbins, Hawthorne is able to provide a metaphorical representation of the hypocrisy in the society while conforming to the conventions of the gothic genre. Moreover, through the presence of negative emotions that catalyze actions, Hawthorne effectively illustrates the consequences for not confessing sin while conforming to

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