Women In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

The societal standards which men and women face differ immensely. Typically, society envisions men as strong, breadwinners of the family, full of pride and power. In comparison, the public tends to view women in a softer light, as weak, assistants of men, facing a destiny of motherhood and ruling the domestic sphere. Likewise, when analyzing religious—and more specifically sexual—standards of men and women of traditional Western society, an individual can realize clear and distinct incongruences. The culture of today tends to view men as sexual fiends with a bottomless pit of libido, pillaging women of their sexual purity. In stark contrast, the same population expects the upmost sexual purity of members of the female sex, showing a degrading

The differing views create conflicts in the fundamental beliefs from individual to individual, with some agreeing with the views and others disagreeing with the views. Inasmuch, a feminist movement towards the equality of women on all fronts of expression—including sexual—arises, as one would expect. Many critics agree upon Nathaniel Hawthorne’s feminist depiction of the societal injustices women of the Puritan era faced and continue to face today in order to show the incongruent effects of sexual impurity and the subsequent treatment of men versus women in the public arena in his dark romantic 19th century novel, The Scarlet Letter.

Society places unrealistic standards upon women for physical expressionism in nearly every form and bemoans feminine sexuality. The Scarlet Letter hinges upon Hester Prynne’s “shame” brought upon by her adulterous affair with the seemingly pure Reverend Dimmesdale (Hawthorne 39). Of course, Hawthorne’s discernment of shame comes from the less-than-ideal standards of Puritan women of

Men typically show pride in their sons and daughters, with a just and commendable decision to raise the child to the best of his ability. Unfortunately, some men go astray, lacking of such purpose, and cower in the face of pregnancy as their sexual encounters turn into a human-creating reality. Hawthorne depicts Dimmesdale as the latter for the vast majority of The Scarlet Letter, in which he most prominently depicts the reverend “[dreading] public exposure” with his daughter in the scene, which they stand upon the scaffold (Hawthorne 101). Until his final revealing of his fatherhood of Pearl publically in the last remaining point possible—preceding his death—Hawthorne writes Dimmesdale as a character relatively independent of Pearl’s life throughout her raising, and certainly does not draw any scene into play to note any financial contribution to her wellbeing from the renowned reverend. Likewise, the commonality does not encourage him to contribute to the obviously worse-off family unit of Hester and Pearl, which the Bible calls for in Psalm 82:3-4: “Defend the cause of the weak and the fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed” (Psalms 82.2-3). Likewise, Carol Singly notes Dimmesdale’s negligence as a father as he “denies his paternity despite Pearl’s driving need ot know her origins” (Singley 78). Singly presents a