Separate Spheres

As many people know, “hindsight is 20/20.” As we live in the 21st century, we look back on the past to recognize and grow from the mistakes made. For instance, women are no longer viewed as less than men and have obtained the right to vote. This separation between men and women was present in the past, such as the 19th century. In The Scarlet Letter, a fictional tale written in the 19th century that highlighted the situations placed on both men and women, Nathaniel Hawthorne created a male and female character, Mr. Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne, respectively, and used controversy to emphasize characteristics of each that were opposite their gender.

The stereotypical view of the 19th century was that women were weaker than men. The main

Because “the ideology of Separate Spheres rested on a definition of the ‘natural’ characteristics of women and men,” women were considered best suited to the domestic sphere (Hughes). Due to the strengths of women, it was deemed that their job was to maintain the household. Additionally, women were viewed as weaker than men. Women were considered “physically weaker yet morally superior to men” (Hughes). Despite men’s advantage in physical strength, women were considered to have superior moral strength and thus emotional strength and fortitude. Despite the stereotype that men were stronger, women were more moral, however, Hawthorne used Hester and Dimmesdale to reverse these ideas. Although Dimmesdale was a male character, he represented the stereotypical female role.

In The Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale characterized the female stereotype of the time period and thus reversed gender roles. Dimmesdale lives in fear behind Hester, who takes the retribution for their shared sin. Hester said, ‘ye cannot take [the scarlet letter] off… And would that I might endure his agony, as well as mine!” (Hawthorne 65). Dimmesdale was present for this conversation and was one of the men asking

Hester bore the burden of public shame for both herself and Dimmesdale, without expecting requittal. Hester would not take off the scarlet letter, saying she would “endure his agony, as well as [her own]” (Hawthorne 65). Hester was, as the saying goes, “the man of the house.” She was willing to bear shame for herself and her co-adulterer. Hester exuded the physical strength characteristic of males in the 19th century. She was so strong and powerful she changed the symbol of iniquity itself. It was the “helpfulness found in [Hester]- so much power to do and power to sympathize- that many people refused to interpret the scarlet ‘A’ by its original signification. They said that it meant ‘Able;’ so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman’s strength” (Hawthorne 152). The scarlet letter was a mark of adultery meant to bring shame and guilt upon those who bore it. Hester lived her life with strength even under the weight of the public eye, that she altered the view of the scarlet letter. This strength is something not characteristic of women in the 19th century and it is her ultimate display of strength that established Hester’s male