ipl-logo

Gender Roles In The Scarlet Letter

1103 Words5 Pages

INTRODUCTION
Almost 150 years old a text, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter can be viewed as a saga of a woman who let her heart take the charge of her head and faced consequences.
Set in the first half of seventeenth century in a Puritan village in Boston, Massachusetts, few years before the novel begins, Hester Prynne arrived to the ‘New World’, her arrival was soon to be followed by her husband’s arrival. He was in Europe to fulfill certain commitments. However, things took a different turn in his absence. Hester Prynne was accused of adultery; she was branded with the scarlet letter A. The novel traces the course of hardships of Hester and her illegitimate child Pearl.
Before proceeding, it is necessary to have an understanding of the formation of New England. It is necessary to know of the culture, its occupants and history. As the …show more content…

It can be noted through the narrative that values and tradition of the Puritan settlement influence the social as well as the gender expectations. The story have been viewed in various dimensions including- as a tale of sin and its consequence, isolation, redemption, passion, love and struggle against society’s conventions.
Through Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne challenges the conventional view of men and women in Puritan New England.
It is interesting that Hester, who on one hand is suffering from social isolation, exhibits a desire to be once more accepted as a full member of the community and on the other, her passionate spirit and her personal, moral laws seem to be directly opposed to the Puritan belief which deems her sin as evil and docile; being a woman, she is expected to behave submissively. However, she doesn’t, challenging the notion attached with woman. She thus questions the existing stereotypes concerning

Show More
Related

Examples Of Pathos In The Scarlet Letter

315 Words | 2 Pages

Hawthorne uses many forms of rhetoric to portray his characters, but relies heavily on pathos in the instance of Hester Prynne. She’s a member of an inherently misogynistic society, and because she’s a woman, her every act is scrutinized. As punishment for her act of adultery, Hester is ordered to adorn her chest with a permanent scarlet letter. Although the audience is well aware of the atrocity of the sin she’s committed, Hawthorne’s writing sparks a feeling of empathy within the reader. Throughout the novel, the reader is exposed to several clear uses of pathos.

Read More

Hester Prynne Shame Quotes

1140 Words | 5 Pages

Hester's True Side In committing an act of adultery, Hester Prynne, the primary character in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, finds herself a victim of harsh judgement and ridicule by her Puritan community. She becomes isolated as a result of this scandalous behavior and becomes emotionally involved in a love triangle between her husband and her lover, Arthur Dimmesdale, who is the town minister. As a result of her shameful history, the townspeople attempt to destroy and embarrass her by socially neglecting her and labeling her as an outcast and loner. Though the people of the community pursue several attempts to shame her, Hester Prynne's beauty, selflessness, and strength help her overcome this rejection from the townspeople and

Read More

Manipulating People's Emotions In The Scarlett Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

747 Words | 3 Pages

While exploring the power of love and, manipulating people 's emotions the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne was written on the battle of someone who was convicted of being a sinner living in a puritan society. The Scarlet Letter was a very influential novel because it was like a change in time, because it’s so different from what we see today. The story talks about Hester, who committed adultery and instead of giving her the punishment of death, she got the leeway of public humiliation. Throughout the novel the author uses characterization, tone and symbolism to help the readers better understand. First, there were the characters that helped to connect the theme sin, crime, and punishment.

Read More

Hester Prynne's Ignominy

264 Words | 2 Pages

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is an extreme outcast in her society following her public ignominy and being sinfully branded as the adulterer. Succeeding Hester’s removal of the “A” from her chest, she initially believes that “the burden of shame and anguish departed from her spirit” (182). Hester feels as though the removal of the “A” has removed the stigma pertaining to the “A”, as well as the constraints and disregard society has cast upon her. But whether or not Hester contains a physical marker of her ignominy, she will be abandoned within society. After seven years of being accustomed to Hester’s sin, townspeople still believe Hester was “dead, in respect to any claim of sympathy” (203).

Read More

Scarlet Letter Dbq

2184 Words | 9 Pages

The Scarlet Letter is a popular novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne which is mainly read during one's high school years. The Scarlet letter is set during the sixteenth century in Boston Massachusetts where a young woman named Hester Prynne is publicly shamed by the Puritans. When Hawthorne was writing this novel he described the puritans as a sad, bland society which had a reliance on the consequence of sin. His description of the Puritan society was not fully opinion-based since the Puritans that came over from England did dress simply. This leads the reader to wonder how much of his personal opinion made its way into the story and how much is historical fact.

Read More

Examples Of Justice In The Scarlet Letter

1646 Words | 7 Pages

Imagine living in a place where one small sin could define who you are for the rest of your life. That is what happened in The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1850. The novel is set in a seventeenth-century Puritan community in Boston, Massachusetts. A young woman by the name of Hester Prynne commits a small act of adultery and is shamed for the rest of her life, by wearing a scarlet letter “A” on her breast. The book is centered around the theme of justice and judgement.

Read More

Hester Prynne: A Romantic Hero

796 Words | 4 Pages

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter, the protagonist, Hester Prynne is a Romantic Hero. Throughout The Scarlet Letter, we see Hester Prynne’s struggle in Colonial America after she is condemned by the Puritan society. She is sent to America by her husband, but he never returns, and Hester later conceives a child with the local minister. She is convicted with the crime of adultery, but refuses to identify the father, she is then forced to wear the Scarlet Letter. The novel captures her experience as she struggles to survive the guilt, sin, and revenge.

Read More

What Is The Role Of The Community In The Scarlet Letter

261 Words | 2 Pages

At just a glance at the back cover of The Scarlet Letter, a reader is immediately aware of the plot and the Puritan setting. If a reader receives some background knowledge, he or she learns that being apart of the community back then was not an easy task. With its harsh regulations, and strict, unlawful punishments, it is no wonder a citizen of this society would not act out of the Puritan lifestyle. In just the first couple of pages after they say Hester, Hawthorne describes the females of the community like evil villains from a Disney movie. When Prynne was initially exposed to the public, the women attacked her with criticism for she carried the beloved scarlet letter on her bosom as a sign of adultery.

Read More

Yamin Wang In Scarlet Letter

1142 Words | 5 Pages

The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, was published in 1850. It focuses on the life of the main protagonist, Hester Prynne, living in a Puritan community. Both Yamin Wang and Maria Stromberg offer insight into The Scarlet Letter and analyze multiple aspects of the story.. Both Wang and Stromberg claim that there is an underlying ideology hidden in the texts of the book. Wang approaches the story from a feminist approach and states that Hester represents the feminism in the Puritan community, and she analyzes the Puritan’s outlook on women in their society.

Read More

Essay On The Treatment Of Men And Women In The Scarlet Letter

999 Words | 4 Pages

The Scarlet Letter, a novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1850, functions as an evaluation of Puritan ideas, customs, and culture during the 17th century. Through this evaluation, we can get a good idea of what core values and beliefs the Puritans possessed, as well as the actions they take in cases of adversity brought about by “sinners”. Some Puritan virtues created stark divisions between groups of people, some of which led to discrimination under certain circumstances. One of the most prominent of these is the treatment and standards of men and women, a concept that surfaced during some of the major points in The Scarlet Letter. The divisions that were created by Puritan standards of men and women played a great role in shaping the plot of The Scarlet Letter, determining the fate of many of the characters.

Read More

Argumentative Essay On Civil Rights

802 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout high school I’ve learned various things, some that will stick in the future and some that go in through one ear and out through the other. If it's one thing that I must say was worth knowing, it would be realizing that keeping a positive mindset and having faith in yourself can help you achieve even the impossible, along with hard work. Never would I have guessed that a project assigned to me would make the change that was overdue. A civil rights project that I thought so minimal on helped me become a better person, but it also brought peace of mind to families who beared sleepless nights in fear of them being deported. It all started off the day that Ms. Mohr explained how important this project was, and the potential it had

Read More

Puritan Culture In The Scarlet Letter

920 Words | 4 Pages

The Scarlet Letter and Uses of the Puritan Past illustrate various aspects of the cultural values in Puritanism and their societal impacts. In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne depicts Puritanism as a bleak, strict cultural instance in which people who do not conform to their rules are shunned and distanced from society. In Uses of the Puritan Past, Puritan culture is described as a social construct based on four primary virtues. These virtues were the main influence of Puritan activity in Uses of the Puritan Past, as they were responsible for the creation of social rules and essential morality resulting in increased power and influence of the Puritan over every day Puritan life in New England. Even though both The Scarlet Letter and Uses of the

Read More

Theme Of Suffering In The Scarlet Letter

1662 Words | 7 Pages

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne explores recurring themes of suffering surrounding the main characters, Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale. Hester and Dimmesdale both commit adultery with each other, and, as a result of this, both experience gruesome and occasionally unbearable forms of suffering. Though they undergo different forms of pain, both of their experiences are highly reliant on how the Puritan society treats them. Hester 's pain stems from the shame and estrangement she receives from the community, while Dimmesdale’s is due to the reverence with which the community regards him. Although, in spite of the fact that both Hester and Dimmesdale receive harsh penalty for their sin, by the end of the book, Hawthorne shows how their suffering is, in fact, the key to their salvation.

Read More

Gothic Elements In Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The Scarlet Letter'

1284 Words | 6 Pages

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

Read More

Hypocrisy Of The Puritan Society In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

936 Words | 4 Pages

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)

Read More

More about Gender Roles In The Scarlet Letter

Related Topics

Open Document