This paper focuses on a construction of a women in ‘Scarlet Letter’ by Nathaniel Hawthorne and the way the woman is shown as a fallen one. Specific methodologies have been chosen to explain, identify and analyse information about this topic - gender, feminist as well as historical methodology. Human beings are differentiated into a man and a woman, women are judged by their looks and actions, and the public never likes them to be even slightly different, sinful or impure. Gender should is fluid variable that can shift and change in different contexts and at different times, gender is what a person does in a specific context and time, one can have more than just one gender assigned as it will be seen in ‘Scarlet Letter’. Furthermore, feminism which is the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social and economic equality to men will be connected to the controversial image of a woman shown in this essay.
Regarding historical methodology one must relate to Puritanism and their principles of how a woman should be: pure, married, and taking care of children and household. In Puritanism there was a special emphasis on efforts to regulate female sexuality with religious, legal and economic structures, it focused on the idea of subordinating women to men. Massachusetts Bay Colony definitely was a man's world. Puritan minister's preached that the soul had two parts, the immortal masculine half, and the mortal feminine half, so they predestined a woman to be the less perfect being and instruments of Satan himself. The Puritans believed in predestination — that God had already chosen who would be in heaven or hell, and each believer had no way of knowing which group they were in but it appears that women were predestinated to be sinful and fallen. Despite the fact everyone is stained with original sin, women carry a heavier burden due to the depiction of Eve’s actions in the Garden of Eden from the Old Testament. Her actions were a corruption extended to all women.
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Puritans feared that women were much more vulnerable to temptations, and that they possessed qualities that could be exploited and become sinful. A woman was to love and obey her husband. If she was a good companion, she had fulfilled her God-given duty. As will be explained later ‘The Scarlet Letter’ the protagonists challenges traditional gender role norms and shows a feminist desire to exist outside the binary understanding of gender. Lastly, in a period obsessed with the idealisation of female virginity, there were always consequences of sexual experience outside marriage. The term fallen woman was used to describe a woman who experienced sexual activity, including premarital or extra-marital sex which resulted in the metaphorical fall from the grace of God and society’s favour. There was a belief that to be socially and morally acceptable, a woman's sexual experience should be absolutely restricted to marriage, and that she should always be taken care of by men, whether it was her husband, father, brother or uncle. Female wrongdoing was not only judged by law, but also according to the idealised conception of womanhood. When a woman deviated from the Puritan construction of the ideal woman, she was stigmatised and condemned.
‘The Scarlet Letter’ which is a story of sin, ignominy and punishment was published in 1850, by American romanticism writer named Nathaniel Hawthorne. The author is one of the firsts who understood tragedy of womanhood well enough to create a female protagonist. Choosing Hester Prynne as a main character resulted in the concept of female who is historically and socially determined. The romance is set in the Puritan society, the protagonist is a beautiful and smart woman, living in Massachusetts Bay Colony who gives birth to a child and refuses to give the name of child’s father. Her husband cannot be the father as he was not present in her life at the time of her pregnancy, later the reader learns thar a young and well liked minister named Arthur Dimmesdale is the father of Hester‘ s child. He was too scared to admit and confess to his sin and none suspected him of being the father. In seeking love and affection from another man, Hester appears to have committed one of the worst sins a woman is able to commit according to the Puritan, patriarchal society: adultery, and she becomes stigmatised for the rest of her life as ‘the scarlet woman’. This resulted in Hester being punished and condemned to lead her life as an outcast on the outskirts as she had not obeyed to the rules of Puritanism. As a punishment she was sentenced to spent time in prison and wear a scarlet letter ‘A’ (which symbolised adultery) on her chest. Even when Hester’s prison punishment was ended, but she would still wear the scarlet letter ‘A’ for the rest of her life. It resulted in society looking at her and her baby differently so they were isolated and alone. Perhaps the real tragedy started when Hester decided to reveal the identity of Roger Chillingworth to Arthur. She told Arthur that Roger is her husband and she could not marry Arthur as their love for forbidden but Hester continues to love and desire Dimmesdale (she might have hoped to live happily with her lover after getting a divorce from her harsh and bestial husband). She dreams of a life with Arthur, if not in this world, then perhaps in another one. Reverend Dimmesdale made a shocking decision when he asked Hester and Pearl to come at the scaffold, where after seven years he finally revealed his secret to the world. He revealed the scarlet letter which stuck on his heart and he died moments later.
Hester lost her love and hope for a better future with Arthur. Hester is downgraded even by other women as Hawthorne uses very harsh words for the Puritan women who surround Hester as she walks toward the scaffold and call her disgraceful. As Hester makes her final approach to the scaffold, Hawthorne adds that she does so 'under the heavy weight of a thousand unrelenting eyes, all fastened upon her.' Here, the Puritan women who observe the scene are singularly described as judgmental and entirely uncompromising. Hester is bearing the weight of her sin, she is carrying her infant, the result of her sin, and she is wearing the scarlet letter on her chest, a symbol of her sin. Still, the women are not described to exhibit compassion. An action of a woman judged by other women is hurtful and cruel. But she holds her head high and remains in full public view without shedding a single tea, she shows dignity and grace.. Hester is a character through which the binaries of Madonna/Whore and Saint/Sinner are blurred and refracted into shades of grey, allowing for nuance and the possession of both good and bad traits within an individual. Indeed, she as a character and more significantly as a woman has the ability to simultaneously inh. She was an outcast even before giving birth to pearl bc she was in a foreign land without a husband, all alone. Hester is able to provide for herself and Pearl by needling work and helping others. Hester tears off the scarlet letter and takes off her cap to let her hair down, symbolizing her rejection of society’s attempts to control her. Hester expresses feminist tendencies when she asks Dimmesdale to leave New England and begin a new life with her and Pearl. While the scarlet letter is a punishment designed specifically for her, any respectable woman of the era would have worn a cap, so Hester is rejecting all of the ways that women are subjected to patriarchal control the novel ends with Hester voluntarily returning to New England, and continuing wearing the scarlet letter. This hardly seems like a feminist act of rebellion. But in wearing the letter out of choice, not obligation, she had transformed the letter into a work of art with gorgeous embroidery. Hester actually continues her feminist self-determination. As she goes on to support other women who are struggling in the community, she extends her personal liberation to others suffering under the patriarchy. In living the life she chooses, Hester embodies powerful ideas about female agency and equality. When at the end of the novel Hester returns to New England after 7 years of absence she still wears her scarlet letter but she is treated with awe and respect. She finds an internal peace and after a several-year-long absence, she is strong enough to return to a society that has not treated her kindly. She is a proof for other people that there is no need to suffer in silence as she did and even though she still wears her sign she now has full control of her body and soul. Hester, described by Hawthorne, as a brave, unshaken, independent, and rebellious woman has the characteristics of feminism. Hester has a daughter named Pearl, who is illegitimate from her mother’s transgression, and is also shunned by society, through no doing of her own but because of her mother. This is another important aspect of the fallen woman trope because if the fallen woman does survive in the novel, which does not usually happen because a fallen woman is written to show how the loss of a woman’s purity is the end of her life and that death is the punishment, and she has a child, that child will be similarly rejected. Hester becomes less defined by her sin and more in control of her life as the years go on.
Pear is designated to be a fallen woman as well, perhaps she changes her faith by leaving the Puritan society and finding a husband in a foreign land. Pearl is a fallen woman as well, she was one even before she was born because she came from adultery thanks to her mother’s lawless passion. Ninety percent of puritan children had biblical names representing great virtues, but not Pearl. Maybe it was a way to punish her as she did not deserve a saint’s name. But on the other hand the name ‘Pear’ suggests that there is more to her character than is seen and first and she has some undiscovered beauty on the inside. From a young age Hester sees she can no longer control Pearl. The child is often associated with a devil as she chooses to reject the judgment of others and becomes dangerous for the society, she was often described as wild, black and strange. Pearl is a living symbol of Hester’s adultery and affection, she carries a symbol of adultery even without a scarlet letter on her clothes. Hawthorn painted a similarity between Pearl’s connection with nature and her relationship with the Puritan community, as both of them are impossible to control. The girl At the end of the novel Pear frees herself from sins of her parents as she gets married and leads a happy life, which show that even if she was predestinad to fall she managed to pick herself up and prove the society wrong.
When Hawthorn described the Custom House in which the story about Hester was found he mentioned an American eagle with enormous wings and arrows in it’s claws. It may symbolise both Hester and Pearl as bold, beautiful, hurt by others, yet inspirational.
It is an important question whether Hawthorn was a feminist or a misogynist as it reflects on the way he constructed female characters in his novel. He states the evilness in woman’s heart and occasionally judges her but he also honors a woman’s rebelling against patriarchy. Furthermore, he uses sympathetic character descriptions, criticises adulatory and speaks highly of Hester in comparison to Dimmesdale as well as he rebels against patriarchy. Hawthorne shows the inner strength, passion, and uniqueness of Hester. In his book he shows misogyny (gender discrimination, patriarchy, social exclusion) but he is a feminist. Hawthorne reminds his readers that for a woman, independent thought and emotion, that is, self-reliance, can be dangerous. Hawthorne’s portrait of Hester Prynne is more complex, she too is portrayed as tempting “others” to her own brand of lawlessness, and she can win a place in patriarchal society and turn scarlet letter into a badge of honour. In addition, the letter helps Hester reach a sphere where women seldom were found, that is, at the center of attention. He might have been influenced by his wife and because thanks to her he was able to create a character with so much substance and individuality. the Hawthorne family lived on money Sophia Hawthorne had saved through sales of her hand-decorated lamp-shades and hand screens. During the time her family lacked money, she did not complain; she gave all her love, patience, and care to Hawthorne and his work. The Scarlet Letter was written in a mood of grief and anger after death of Hawthorn’s mother. Hester Prynne, who, like his mother, was a socially stigmatized woman abandoned to bear and rear her child alone. Throughout his life, Hawthorne became increasingly aware of the effect of how men perceived and treated women.
Hester goes through a gender shift as she does not show dependence and passivity but she becomes more masculine, strong, assertive and independent (at least outside of town). She refuses to name the father of her child, she is disobedient to her husband and the authorities, she provides for herself and Pearl by her needlework. But if Hester had been a man her punishment would have been very different - death or single punishment instead of continuous and lifelong punishment. In contrast to the two distorted male personalities, one obsessed with revenge and the other with his holiness, Hester appears almost a miracle of wholeness and sanity. While these two men struggle with their own egos and fantasies, she starts her own battle of maintaining her dignity in a community that scorns her. She stays whole and sane in the solitude by feeding her and her childand raising her child to adulthood in spite of so many obstacles. The author also reminds the readers that though Hester has been abandoned by the Puritan society, she retains a lot of this world; whereas Chillingworth and Dimmesdale, who are at the very center of society, are totally immured in their self-absorption. Another scene where her independence can be seen is when she meets Arthur in the woods. He pleads with her: “‘Think for me, Hester! Thou art strong. Resolve for me!’” (187). This shows that he needs Hester to act for him in a decisive way. By making plans for them to run away together and start a new life, she takes control over the situation and decides what they shall do next. More than admitting that she is strong, he also shows how independent she is by how dependent he is on her. The fact that she wins her place in the end means that society has been changed by her.
In addition, Hawthorne uses passionate words such as “perfect elegance, abundant hair, beautiful face, richness of complexion” and sympathetic words such as “gentility and dignity” to show this woman’s beauty. However, she complies with some norms and she lives up to the archetype of a Great Mother. Consequently, she embodies both ideals. Hester stands for what she has done and she can manage being at the center of people’s attention, even though this is a place usually reserved for men. While at the center, that is, in a male sphere, she has a chance to influence her community, and she does. She does this by being a caring citizen, comfort and counselling Hester offers to her fellow citizens i but she refuses to be silenced.
Additionally, because of her motherhood and counselling, she embodies the archetype of a Great Mother. Already at the beginning of the novel the narrator refers to her as “the image of Divine Maternity” and she shows her motherly care and devotion to her child through the novel (Hawthorne 53). She is not ashamed of her illegitimate daughter; she is proud of her. She dresses Pearl in the most beautiful dresses; she does not try to hide her (85).
Hawthorne stands out from his male contemporaries among writers of the American 'Renaissance' because he does not hesitate to give women a prominent place in his fictional works. He uses ironies of fallen women and stereotypes to rise awareness about the good and the bad sides of a woman. At the very beginning of the story, Hester Prynne is accorded much courage, beauty, , pride but on the other hand She was predestined to be fallen bc of Puritan views of a woman. If the Puritans symbolize the law, then Hester symbolizes the individual person. It was apparent to Hester that there existed no reason in trying to hide herself and what she had done. Admitting to a sin let her ease her guilt. Hester chose to deal with her guilt by helping others and becoming very productive. Her work was so significant that the letter became to be known as representing “able” as opposed to “adulteress”. Hester is Eve as a modern woman. In the novel Hawthorne reopens Eve's case file, determining the exact fate of a woman who dares to desire.In a world where patriarchal society enveloped woman in her circumspect role as daughter, wife and mother, little space was allocated to the sexualised female.From her rebellious actions, we can see Hester’s feminist consciousness. With this noble character, she becomes totally different from the traditional women who are always obedient to the unfair rules enacted by men. It can be sensed that a new female image is born.
Hester is portrayed by Hawthorne as a victim of society's religious and gender based views. But what makes her strong is that even though she has been made an outcast by society, she carries her sin with her and doesn't let the town's judgment get to her. She was a strong woman who managed to sustain herself and her daughter Pearl by needlework and without help from men and society.norms. By combining expected male and female gender role performances, they are able to live successfully without too much societal punishment for acting out of script, even if it is more allowed for a man to be feminized, than for a woman to step out of her place. Outside of town, the female protagonists are independent and more equal to men. Hawthorne might have disappointed some contemporary feminist readers, but he has given his heroine “the happiest ending he can”. Hester changes the meaning of the “A” through her strong and helpful behavior. She lives independently with her daughter, never complains and does not commit any more sins. The community views the letter as a token of her many good deeds, not as a token of her sin.
Sources
- The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Budick, E. M. (1991). Hester’s skepticism, Hawthorne’s faith; or what does a woman doubt? Instituting the American Romance Tradition. New Literary History
- Male, R. R. (1991). The Tongue of Flame: The Scarlet letter. Boston: Bedford/st. Martins
- Harding, B. (1990). Introduction to The Scarlet Letter. Oxford World’s Classics edition.
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