Societal pressures and expectations affect the lives of individuals. Throughout history women, in particular, experience the oppression of societies which view them as inferior and born for primitive functions. In the Second World War, American women were not considered capable of fighting in the war, and had to stay home while men went overseas to fight. This inferior view of women has appeared for generations throughout history. Through constant exposure to discriminatory treatment, women eventually submit to societal oppression and this treatment negatively impacts their social and intellectual growth as individuals. In his nineteenth century novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne shows how the pressures of society create forceful …show more content…
Hawthorne aims to communicate to women the importance of dismissing societal pressure and mistreatment, and gaining independence from outer influences. To demonstrate his idea of women, Hawthorne uses the main character, Hester Prynne. Critic Gert Buelens of Ghent University discusses Hester’s role and depiction in the novel:
The strong-minded Hester we have encountered in the course of the story offers the reader at the same time an illustration of resistance to society’s expectations and demands, and a delightfully contrasting image to that of the annoying, spineless [Dimmesdale]. Thus, Hawthorne may have condemned Hester Prynne and her adultery and reduced her role in the end to a fairly conservative and “feminine” one, he did not destroy the reader’s capacity to admire the force she displayed during her trials (26).
Buelens recognizes that Hawthorne utilizes Hester as a symbol of independence from societal oppression and condemnation. Hawthorne also exhibits the strength a woman can possess, which can even surpass that of a male if necessary, as appears when contrasting Hester’s character with that of Arthur Dimmesdale. Through Hester, Buelens argues, Hawthorne attempts to communicate the importance of staying true to oneself and ignoring the mistreatment which can ultimately damage women’s
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In the novel Hawthorne highlights the treatment that Hester receives after her branding as an adulterer. Individuals of all ages in her town gathered to ridicule and shame Hester, not hesitating to turn their backs on her: “...Hester Prynne, standing up, a statue of ignominy, before the people”(53). Hester’s sin of adultery gains a great amount of attention, spreads throughout the town, and eventually ends up affecting the rest of her life. From that moment on, the townspeople hold Hester under major scrutiny, intruding on not only her life and the life of her daughter Pearl. Hawthorne shows how easily a society eager to place blame can target individuals, forgetting to utilize kindness and compassion and instead allowing prejudice and hate to drive its thoughts and actions. Michael Dunne, writer for the Scriptorium Press, talks about the community of Boston in a piece he wrote for the journal Interpretations, where he refers to the town’s members as “an extremely severe people, respecters of abstract form rather than human emotions” (Dunne 35). Dunne points out how Hawthorne depicts Hester’s community in an effort to show their almost inbred inclination to alienate and mistreat her simply because they allow her adulterous acts to determine her worthiness in their eyes. The townspeople almost forget her role and presence in their community and focus on her
Hawthorne shows what actually happens behind closed doors. To the people of the town Hester Prynne was just a harlot with a bastard child, but to the readers she was a strong woman who was going to be more than just a harlot. Hawthorne showed that Hester Prynne, and her were actual people with thoughts and feelings and not just a sinner and the product of the sin as the town saw them. The people of the town saw Hester as a disgrace, but with all the torture they gave her was she really the one who was in 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.
Every action reaps its consequences. This veracity is revealed in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, published by Ticknor, Reed, and Fields in 1850. Categorized into the genre of romance, The Scarlet Letter has a solemn, dark, mysterious, and almost eerie mood. The historical novel is set in the strict Puritan society of seventeenth century Boston, Massachusetts. When the book begins, the past action of adultery has already been committed. The story then follows the characters involved in the dirty deed and skillfully details their responses to the consequences.
In the beginning of the book, Hawthorne paints the picture of a female named Hester who has sinned. Not only is she publicly ostracized for having an affair while unmarried, but her major repercussion, her daughter, receives her punishment as well because she derives directly from sin. It is through these tribulations that Hawthorne exemplifies Hester and Pearl, no matter how young, as strong, independent females. These characteristics were not easily applied to females during this time. Hawthorne’s ability to show Hester collected and under control to the crowd, although she may have felt otherwise inside, while she exits the prison and while she is on the scaffold, exhibits her as a strong woman. The fact that Hester exits the prison “by an action marked with natural dignity and force of character, and stepped into the open air, as if by her own free will”, and the fact that while on the scaffold, under pressure, Hester refuses to give the name of the father of her child, also proves her strength and compassion. She states, “Never!....It is too deeply branded. Ye cannot take it off. And would that I might endure his agony, as well
Hester is being considered as the devil (Bellis 1), which is a sign that the town’s people are slanderous and judgmental. Their judgment has caused her to be isolated. “… A woman who had once been innocent…” is now considered as “…the reality of sin” (Hawthorne 39). They look at her as a threat diminishing their community’s chance for purification because “there was the taint of deepest sin…” (Hawthorne 24). My apprehension of Pearl is that she is the fruit of evil, because she is seen as “immortal” (Hawthorne 11). Because, she has caused a ruckus, her immoral acts have disturbed the nature of their society. They think this is morally correct because, “Political and generational ambivalence has its psychological counterpart…” (Bellis 2), which give them the right to make her an evil outcast.
When one analyzes the punishment inflicted upon her, it may seem harsh and cruel, especially for a Puritan society. It seems that Hawthorne agrees with this as well. Throughout the novel, it seems apparent that Hawthorne feels that the punishment Hester received was harsh and self-degrading. When one commits a sin, they should understand their mistake, receive their blame, and receive a "slap on the wrist." However, the punishment Hester received was far worse emotionally. Wearing the letter made Hester the talk-about of the town. When she walked through the marketplace, she received scornful looks, as if society was rejecting her for her wrongdoing. Hester was now living on the outskirts of town, isolated from neighbors and trying to communicate with her daughter Pearl.
Hester, however, was not some adulteress and sinner, in fact, she had more integrity than the self-proclaimed righteous townspeople. After her punishment in the book the townspeople end up saying, “It is our Hester,- the town’s own Hester,- who is so kind to the poor, so helpful to the sick, so comfortable to the afflicted” (Hawthorne 111) and describe her as the loving angel of the town even though they still shame her for the crime she committed about a decade ago. Going hand and hand with Boo Radley, Hester was misunderstood by the people until they actually saw her for the kind woman she was and not for the letter upon her chest. Hawthorne, unlike Lee, wrote with a portrait lens, for he captured a picture of a detailed and realistic character with Hester, who was punished for the crime she committed. Hawthorne described the injustice in the same view as Lee as “the young woman - the mother of this child - stood fully revealed before the crowd” (Hawthorne 36) publicly shamed in a world that failed to witness the wrong that they have done. The two different lenses of the authors connect together as they create a bigger picture than themselves on the topic of punishment. Though the authors tell the same view on punishment they did it by coming at it at different
At the beginning of the Scarlet Letter Hester Prynne is labeled as the “bad guy”. The townspeople demand the other adulterer’s name, but Hester denies this revelation. She does not reveal it because she knows that the information will crumble the foundation of the Puritan religion and the town itself. “‘But, Hester, the man lives who has wronged us both! Who is he?’ ‘Ask me not!’ replied Hester Prynne, looking firmly into his face. ‘That thou shalt never know!’(Hawthorne 52). Hester knows that finding out that the father of the child, the Minister that is leading the town, will diminish credibility for the church and for Dimmesdale, the Minister. During her punishment, Hester decides to move out near the woods and make a living as a seamstress. Hester is regarded as an outcast from Boston, but she still gives back to the society that shuns her. ‘“Do you see that woman with the embroidered badge?’ they would say to strangers. ‘It is our Hester, —the town's own Hester, —who is so kind to the poor, so helpful to the sick, so comfortable to the afflicted!’”(Hawthorne 111). Her acts of kindness, helping the sick and comforting the afflicted, toward the society that makes her an outcast shows the inner goodness of a person. Throu...
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s well known novel, The Scarlet Letter, extensive diction and intense imagery are used to portray the overall tone of the characters. In particular, Hester Prynne, the wearer of the Scarlet Letter, receives plentiful positive characterization throughout the novel. Hester’s character most notably develops through the town’s peoples ever-changing views on the scarlet letter, the copious mentions of her bravery, and her ability to take care of herself, Pearl, and others, even when she reaches the point where most would give up and wallow in their suffering.
In the beginning of the novel, the town of Boston laughs, judges, and alienates Prynne for what she did and the scarlet letter on her bosom, until after seven years when the people began to see her differently. The narrator states that Hester was starting to be very helpful to the townspeople, almost as if she had changed. The scarlet letter was later seen as Hester being Able, and not a person of Adultery and sin. The letter had now shown her strength and accomplishments as a woman (Hawthorne 149). By telling of her strength and achievements in Boston, and as a woman in that time period, Hawthorne displays Prynne as a female who chooses to not be put down by others.
Hester Prynne, “The young woman was tall, with a figure of perfect elegance on a large scale. She had dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam; and a face which, besides being beautiful from regularity of feature and richness of complexation, had the impressiveness belonging to a marked brow and deep black eyes.” (11). In this quote Hawthorne depicts Hester as lady-like with great beauty, elegance, and intelligence; continually Hawthorne mentioned how Hester’s beauty stands out from the dark Puritan society. However,
The main character of Hawthorne’s novel is Hester Prynne, a Puritan woman who committed adultery and was publically punished for it. At the time, she faced a great amount of humiliation and hatred from the Boston townspeople for what she had done. Her punishment was to wear a scarlet letter attached to her breast for the rest of her life so then people will know she committed adultery. Because of her scarlet letter, the townspeople thought she was a sinful person and that everything she did was almost a crime. Despite through all of these tough times, no one knew who committed adultery along with Hester.
Another time Hester’s inner strength is apparent is when it is stated, “Every gesture, every word, and even the silence of those with whom she came in contact, implied, and often expressed, that she was banished, and as much alone as if she inhabited another sphere, or communicated with the common nature by other organs and senses than the rest of human kind ” (58). This means that for several years, Hester has to endure public ridicule and social isolation. Overcoming this horrible treatment demonstrates Hester’s strength, which proves Hawthorne’s belief that women can be equally resilient to men when it comes to emotional strength. Finally, due to Hester’s endurance and helpfulness, her reputation
In On the Scarlet Letter, D.H. Lawrence examines one of the many different opinions on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s character from The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne. Instead of evaluating the consequences of Hester’s sin, Lawrence focuses more on the sin itself. Mocking Hester, he clearly demonstrates that he does not agree with the amount of appraisal she receives and does not think that people should use her as a model to look up to. To express his opposition towards Hester Prynne, Lawrence includes narrative allusions, demeaning diction, and repetition throughout his criticism. By examining Hester Prynne’s character through narrative allusions, Lawrence demonstrates his cynical view of her.
Hester in her society was determined to stand up and hold her ground. She was not in any instance ready or willing to abide to society’s prescribed gendered roles. Hester as an advocate for women’s rights and self-identity withstood the challenges imposed by society and granted the voiceless and unrepresented women of all time the opportunity to stand up against discrimination. When given the opportunity to leave the community as a way to remove “the scarlet letter A” she willingly refused for she was not going to give in to the oppression of society and loose her self-identity. Women are not fragile or weak.