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Gender in 20th century literature
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Gender roles in literature
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All pieces of literature have one thing in common, and that is the structure. Most stories are written in chronological order; that is what we find when discussing the short passage from the story " The Sentimentality of William Tavener." It is ordered relatively straight forward, at first glance but infact takes place in two different settings. This exert of "The Sentimentality of William Tavener", also has quite a bit to offer from a structural stand point, especially from the way it was ordered. Just like in buildings, every passage needs some ground work. The passage begins with a lady named Hester speaking to her husband. Of course this information has not yet been revealed, but the first line has enough information for one to infer that two characters are on the scene. Following this the next paragraph already begins to develop the characters. "It was not Hester's custom to wait for an answer" this small segment of the first sentence in paragraph two already reveals so much about Hesters restless and dominate character. Even with all of this information the subject of the piece is still quite unclear. An important part of structure in a story is the conflict at hand. This conflict is usually the glue that holds everything together, for without it, one would have a string of unrelated events that can no longer develop a story. …show more content…
It is explained that William (Hester's husband) has been working their kids endlessly, and that he wont allow them to go to the circus. It is also revealed that Hester is arguing on behalf of her children agaisnt William for not allowing them to go to the fair. This information was revealed by a sort of monologue from Hester, even though most people in the real world would not do this, it was deeply needed here in order for the reader to understand the
Hester is facing it all, from public scorn to loneliness. Hester becomes an outcast from everyone in a New England colony with her daughter, Pearl. Author, Nathaniel Hawthorne writes of the eventful life of an adulteress in an eighteenth century colony in this fictional classic. Hester Prynne is a young married woman who moved from England to a colony in Massachusetts. While waiting for her husband to arrive, Hester has an affair with a man named Dimmesdale and is put into prison. Hester, even though she is caught in her sin, shows great strength of character; Hester chooses to protect those that she cares about even though it causes her personal suffering. As a result of her strength, Hester causes great change in others around her.
more. Then there is the. Hester also has to live with, and conceal, the secret that the scholar, Chilling Worth, is her husband. When he comes to visit her. jail he says, "Thou hast kept the secret of thy paramour. Keep, likewise. mine! There are none in this land that know me.
At that point, tears filled her eyes as she took out of her bands that entitled her to another man's love. My heart had to start bursting with agony how on earth could thine women of my dream lead me on when being entitled to another man. Hester had expressed her lack of paramour for her spouse as he had left her years ago for Amsterdam and that she had actually a strong love for me. Thine admiration that Hester had for me was still there and she did not attend to hurt me as she was too intoxicated the night in the woods to bring up the fact about her husband. Thou women had dark circles that had been visible under her eyes showing the lack of sleep that the Hester had experienced thinking of the problems that she has created. I accepted the fact that Hester wanted to tell me and I could relate to the reason Hester had moved on from her husband as he had left her for no reason, and she never really loved him in the first place. Hester decides to stay hidden in the chamber so that society could not condemn her
In the passage provided, many examples of personification jumps out at the readers. Three examples from the text include: “…the same question rose into her mind…”, “…a fearful doubt strove to possess her soul…”, and “The scarlet letter had not done its office.” The author used these examples of personification to add an effect to the text; personification gives nonliving things lively characteristics. The first quote shows her perspective by talking about what is going on in her mind, and in her thoughts. The second quote mentions the “fearful doubt” she has about her being, which provides us with detail that she is troubled by something. The last quote means that she doesn’t believe her scarlet letter did its job of punishing her for her sin. This also goes back to her viewpoint on her existence; it seems like the author wants the readers to think that Hester sees herself as worthless and ashamed at first. In reality, she’s proud and
The very heart of the novel’s conflict begins with the protagonist, Hester Prynne. Her crime of adultery is presented
In this scene, the reader is able to see inside Hester's head. One is able to observe the utter contempt she holds for the Puritan ways. She exhibits he love and respect for the father of her child, when she refuses to relinquish his name to the committee. The reader can see her defiant spirit due to these actions.
Another man in the crowd informs the stranger as to the circumstances leading to the woman’s punishment. He tells him that Hester was sent to Europe ahead of her husband, who was to follow a short time later. She has now been in Boston for two years, and has never received word from her husband. The people have been lenient in punishing her for the crime of having a child out of wedlock because of the circumstances with her absent husband. Her punishment is to stand on the scaffold for three hours and to wear the A on her chest for the rest of her life.
When being questioned on the identity of her child’s father, Hester unflinchingly refuses to give him up, shouting “I will not speak!…my child must seek a heavenly Father; she shall never know an earthly one!” (47). Hester takes on the full brunt of adultery, allowing Dimmesdale to continue on with his life and frees him from the public ridicule the magistrates force upon her. She then stands on the scaffold for three hours, subject to the townspeople’s disdain and condescending remarks. However, Hester bears it all “with glazed eyed, and an air of weary indifference.” (48). Hester does not break down and cry, or wail, or beg for forgiveness, or confess who she sinned with; she stands defiantly strong in the face of the harsh Puritan law and answers to her crime. After, when Hester must put the pieces of her life back together, she continues to show her iron backbone and sheer determination by using her marvelous talent with needle work “to supply food for her thriving infant and herself.” (56). Some of her clients relish in making snide remarks and lewd commends towards Hester while she works, yet Hester never gives them the satisfaction of her reaction.
In the beginning of the written story the author reveals Hester to be a cold-hearted mother. "She had bonny children, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her, and she could not love them"(75). In public she is thought of as the perfect mother, but in private she and her children know her true feelings. "Everyone else said of her: 'She is such a good mother. She adores her children.' Only she herself, and her children themselves, knew it was not so. They read it in each other's eyes"(75). Heste...
In Chapter 13, “Another View of Hester,” Hawthorne opens a window through which we glimpse Hester’s internal conflict. She has long been contemplating the “dark question” (144.25) of whether or not “existence [is] worth accepting” (144.26), and she has concluded that it is not. The image of our heroine here is troubling as it seems she has lost all semblance of hope in the possibility of triumph over the scorn and humiliation the public has inflicted on her. Her depression is so strong that she wonders if would be better “to send Pearl at once to Heaven” (145.14). Furthermore, she has not only lost hope for her own life and optimism for her daughter’s future, but she has also lost faith in society in general, especially regarding the place of women. She feels the whole system is beyond repair and that the only way to mend the cracks in the foundation is to have the entire structure “torn down and built anew” (144.32-33). Only after such a drastic reordering takes place can women take a more fair position in the world. This middle portion of Hester’s story represents a definitive low-point; her misery here certainly rivals and likely surpasses that which she felt while standing in front her peers on the scaffold in the beginning
Several words can be drawn from this section to help show Hester's embarassment. It says that she stood "fully revealed before the crowd" and she clasped the infant. This was part of Hester's punishment. She is made to stand on the scaffold and be ridiculed by the crowd and preachers. There is nowhere to hide because everyone can see her and see her sin and so she is fully revealed. The clasping of the infant can be at first thought of as a mother protecting her child. However, it is then shown how she tries to hide one sin with another token of her sin. Her reaction to the crowd was very suprising as she realized there was no point in hiding from her sin anymore.
The guilt that now rests in Hester is overwhelming to her and is a reason for her change in personality. The secrets Hester keeps are because she is silent and hardly talks to anyone. “Various critics have interpreted her silence. as both empowering. and disempowering. Yet silence, in Hester’s case, offers a type of passive resistance to male probing”
A recurring theme in Hawthorne’s novel is the depiction of gender roles between the women and the men to symbolize a society dominated by patriarchal rule. A prime example of this is in the second chapter, upon Hester’s release from prison. The town gossips, all women, comment on how Hester has
Hester Prynne, the main character of the novel, was a courageous and honorable person; even though, what she had been known for wasn’t such an admirable deed. Hester Prynne was a very strong person in one’s eyes, because even though she had been publically humiliated in front of all of Boston, she still remained confident in herself and her daughter. She was ordered to wear a scarlet colored piece of fabric, with the letter “A” embroidered in gold on it, on her bosom at all times to show that she had committed adultery. She was mocked all the time and constantly looked down upon in society, because of her sin; but instead of running away from her problems, she st...
Throughout many years of her life, Hester was considered an outcast by the people of her town. These repercussions are felt by her daughter, Pearl, as well, because she has no friends. They don't associate with others and some instances occurred when Puritan children would throw rocks at the two. During this time, Hester refuses to make publicly known the name of her child's father. To bear the weight of her punishment all alone made her even stronger. As her life progressed, Hester became less of an outcast in the public eye. She was gifted at embroidery and was charitable to those less fortunate than she. (Although Hester was a talented seamstress, she did not make as much money as she could have because she was not allowed to sew wedding dresses. This is obviously because she had committed sins that were supposed to be confined to the sanctity of marriage.)