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Male and female challenges in the scarlet letter
Gender roles in the scarlet letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne and symbolism
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Nurse Ratched and Hester are characterized by the views of others and their relationships with them. Much of who the Big Nurse depends on Chief Bromden’s narration and the opinions expressed by the other patients. Randall McMurphy, the rebellious new admission patient, argues right away that Ratched is something other than what other patients had previously thought. He claims that she falls into the category of “people who try to make you weak so they can get you to toe the line, to follow their rules, [and] to live like they want you to” (60). According to McMurphy, she exercises her power by abusing and manipulating the fragile male patients. This is possible because she avoids exposure to the world outside of the hospital, which is a patriarchy, and thus is able to make her own rules. …show more content…
She is not a feminist because the patients view her as a cruel tyrant rather than an equal. Similarly, Hester is mistaken for an elite in her community. In a public gathering, Indians assume “that the wearer of this brilliantly embroidered badge must needs be a personage of high dignity among her people” (368). For the Indians to think this means that she actually is of nobility, and Hawthorne includes this account in his novel to portray this to the reader. The scarlet letter comes to mean much more than a punishment as it becomes part of Hester’s character when she defies cultural gender injustice. By the end of the novel, it reveals that she is someone greater than just an outsider. Although not admitted by the people of the Puritan culture, they view her as an honorable and admirable woman above the others, just as the Indians do. Because others see Hester and Ratched as greater than equals and their struggles as a fight for power rather than equality categorizes them as not
The novel is narrated by the main character, Chief Bromden, who reveals the two faces of Nurse Ratched, in the opening pages of the novel. He continues sweeping the floor while the nurse assaults three black aides for gossiping in the hallway. Chief chooses to describe the nurse abstractly: “her painted smile twists, stretches to an open snarl, and she blows up bigger and bigger...by the time the patients get there...all they see is the head nurse, smiling and calm and cold as usual” (5). Nurse Ratched runs the psychiatric ward with precision and harsh discipline. When Randle McMurphy arrives to escape time in jail, he immediately sizes the Big Nurse up as manipulative, controlling, and power-hungry. The portrayal that he expresses to the patient's leaves a lasting impact on them: “The flock gets sight of a spot of blood on some chicken and all go to peckin’ at it, see, till they rip the chicken to shreds, blood and bones and feathers” (57). McMurphy finds it appalling that the patients are too blindsided to see Nurse Ratched’s conniving scheme, which is to take charge of the patients’ lives. The only person who understands Nurse Ratched’s game is McMurphy, and this motivates him to rebel against the
Kesey also uses characterisation to show power. The ‘Big’ Nurse Ratched runs the ward in which the central characters reside in a manner that induces fear in both patients and staff. The Nurse controls almost everything in the men’s lives; their routines, food, entertainment, and for those who are committed, how long they stay in the hospital. Nurse Ratched is the main example of power and control in the novel. The Big Nurse has great self-control; she is not easily flustered and never lets others see what she is feeling. Rather than accusing the men of anything, she ‘insinuates’. Although she isn’t physically larger than the ‘small’ nurses, The Chief describes Nurse Ratched as ‘Big’ because of the power she holds – this presentation of size is used for many characters.
The central theme in The Scarlet Letter is that manifested sin will ostracize one from society and un-confessed sin will lead to the destruction of the inner spirit. Hawthorne uses the symbol of the scarlet letter to bring out this idea. In the novel, Hester is forced to wear the scarlet letter A (the symbol of her sin) because she committed adultery with the clergyman, Dimmesdale. Because the public's knowledge of her sin, Hester is excluded physically, mentally, and socially from the normal society of the Puritan settlement. She lives on the outskirts of town in a small cottage where she makes her living as a seamstress. Though she is known to be a great sewer amongst the people, Hester is still not able to sew certain items, such as a new bride's veil. Hester also has no interaction with others; instead she is taunted, if not completely ignored, by all that pass her by. Despite the ill treatment of the society, Hester's soul is not corrupted. Instead, she flourishes and improves herself in spite of the burden of wearing the scarlet letter and she repeatedly defies the conventional Puritan thoughts and values by showing what appears to us as strength of character. Her good works, such as helping the less fortunate, strengthen her inner spirit, and eventually partially welcome her back to the society that once shunned her.
With a strong female protagonist and two mentally weak males, it is hard to consider Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter anything but a feminist treatise. He obviously intended to put down not only Puritanism, which is an obvious aspect of the novel, but to establish a powerful, secure female in American literature. Hester proves, although she has sinned in the past, she can confront her mistakes, take care of herself and her child, and help others at the same time. She can withhold a position in society that many can respect because of her character something the males of the story obviously could not succeed at doing.
The character of Hester Prynne changed significantly throughout the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hester Prynne, through the eyes of the Puritans, is an extreme sinner; she has gone against the Puritan ways, committing adultery. For this harsh sin, she must wear a symbol of shame for the rest of her life. However, the Romantic philosophies of Hawthorne put down the Puritanic beliefs. She is a beautiful, young woman who has sinned, but is forgiven. Hawthorne portrays Hester as "divine maternity" and she can do no wrong. Not only Hester, but the physical scarlet letter, a Puritanical sign of disownment, is shown through the author's tone and diction as a beautiful, gold and colorful piece.
Although Hester Prynne from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is looked down upon by her fellow members of Puritan society for being an adulteress, she eventually gains the freedoms of self-government that many women have today. In Puritan society, women were not treated fairly. The culture believed that women should have a man in their life to make decisions for them, and Hester must make her own decisions, as well as support her daughter, and herself, as a seamstress. She proves herself to be perfectly capable of being independent by being successful in her work, and raising her daughter, Pearl, without a male figure. Hawthorne’s writing also leans more towards a feministic view, giving out the intention
In the book The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the physical scarlet letter, worn on the breast of Hester Prynne’s clothing, has many different meanings and roles, both positive and negative, for the varied members of the town. For Hester, Chillingworth, Dimmesdale, and many of the townspeople, the scarlet letter is a mark of shame that reminds them of Hester’s grave sin; however, for other townspeople, foreign visitors, and Pearl, the letter is a symbol of good. Over the novel, these opinions do not change significantly.
The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, contains many profound characters. The townspeople intrigue the reader because they gradually evolve throughout the book, as would any solitary character. In the beginning of the novel, they are generally rigid and judgmental towards Hester, because she has committed adultery. Throughout the novel, they slowly allow Hester and her daughter into their community, but still look at them with suspicion and doubt. Finally, in the end of The Scarlet Letter, the town forgives her of her sin, and she cautiously finds her place in society. Hawthorne uses the strict Puritan townspeople as a criterion by which all societies can be measured. The townspeople, as with any individual character, possess a certain depth that develops with knowledge.
There were no heroes on the psychiatric ward until McMurphy's arrival. McMurphy gave the patients courage to stand against a truncated concept of masculinity, such as Nurse Ratched. For example, Harding states, "No ones ever dared to come out and say it before, but there is not a man among us that does not think it. That doesn't feel just as you do about her, and the whole business feels it somewhere down deep in his sacred little soul." McMurphy did not only understand his friends/patients, but understood the enemy who portrayed evil, spite, and hatred. McMurphy is the only one who can stand against the Big Nurse's oppressive supreme power. Chief explains this by stating, "To beat her you don't have to whip her two out of three or three out of five, but every time you meet. As soon as you let down your guard, as sson as you loose once, she's won for good. And eventually we all got to lose. Nobody can help that." McMuprhy's struggle for hte patient's free will is a disruption to Nurse Ratched's social order. Though she holds down her guard she yet is incapable of controlling what McMurphy is incontrollable of , such as his friends well being, to the order of Nurse Ratched and the Combine.
Social norms have existed in every society since the dawn of time and they are very prevalent in The Scarlet Letter Social norms in the novel are based upon very Puritanical values which causes the townspeople to live a very rigidly structured lifestyle. Naturally, this type of society causes many problems for those who choose to go against the values of society. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester is shown to be one of those who goes against society when she is convicted of adultery. Because she is convicted of this, she is ostracized from society. Upon her being ostracized, she becomes more enlightened than most because she is given the ability to see society through a different lens in the comfort of privacy in her own cottage. It is in private settings such as these that produce some remarkable discoveries about society. Thus, in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter, the need for privacy in uncovering the truth suggests man's natural discomfort in open society.
The Puritans believe that Hester is a sinner because she committed adultery, but it can be argued whether this is true based on what the symbol of the scarlet badge is supposed to mean. Hawthorne tells the reader that the scarlet “A” is a punishment given to Hester by her community, but the color red and its association with natural beauty tells the reader otherwise. “Even the badge of her shame, the token of her ‘guilty’ love, is thus associated with her natural beauty” (Waggoner 318). The correlation between the color red and love, for which the sin was committed, can mean that the sin was not truly a wicked act, and therefore Hester is not representative of moral evil. Hester represents instead a moral goodness. From the beginning to the end of the novel, Hester changes; “…Hester’s rise takes her from low on the line of moral value, a ‘scarlet woman’ guilty of a sin black in the eyes of the Puritans, to a position not too remote from Mr. Wilson’s, as she becomes a sister of mercy and the light of the sickroom” (Waggoner 319). When Hester was first brought out of the prison and publicly humiliated by the scarlet letter, it was clear that the “A” meant “Adulterer”. But, as Hester accepts this as a part of her identity, the “A” begins to mean “Able”. Therefore, Hester makes a moral transformation, and in the end comes to symbolize moral goodness. Despite coming to terms with her wrongdoing, however, Hester will continue to carry both Pearl and her sin throughout the rest of her life. Her past truly never escapes her, as it can be seen in the Conclusion. The words, “On a field, sable, the letter A, gules”, are written on Hester’s tombstone, a permanent reminder of her sin (Hawthorne
Throughout the novel, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester’s experiences in and out of the Puritan society and the weight of the scarlet letter change her in many ways, including her level of confidence, her appearance and her outlook on the Puritan people, and the way she feels about the letter “A”. Due to the sin committed by Hester she became the outcast of the Puritan community. She was forced to begin a new life on her own with no support from anyone. The sudden vicissitudes in her life cause a great transformation in Hester.
As Hester wears the scarlet letter, the reader can feel how much of an outcast Hester becomes. When walking through town, “…she never raised her head to receive their greeting. If they were resolute to accost her, she laid her finger on the scarlet letter and passed on” (Hawthorne, 127).She believes that she is not worthy of the towns acknowledgments and chooses to ignore them. The guilt that now rests in Hester is overwhelming to her and is a reason of her change in personality.
The purpose of the scarlet letter is not fulfilled according to the author, Nathaniel Hawthorne. It was put upon Hester’s bosom to claim her unholiness but instead the "punishment" served as a way for Hester to grow stronger. The townspeople were the first to see first introduction of Hester. She was looked down on since the branding of the letter “A” upon her bosom. She was a "figure of perfect elegance" compared to the Puritan women of "brief beauty" (Hawthorne pg.: 55, 57). Right from the start, Hester appears to be different from those around her, suggesting a rebellious attitude to the traditions and customs of the time where church and state were still considered to be the central government at the time. She was different from others due to her nature of her being. Hester wasn’t like all other women. If another woman were to be branded an adulteress, that woman would have probably try to keep her sin away from the townspeople and forever keep their peace. Hester on the other hand, had the bravery and boldness in her that did not frighten her to show off what she did wrong. She may have had the intention that...
The Scarlet Letter is a blend of realism, symbolism, and allegory. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses historical settings for this fictional novel and even gives historical background information for the inspiration of the story of Hester Prynne in the introduction of The Scarlet Letter, ‘The Custom-House’. The psychological exploration of the characters and the author’s use of realistic dialogue only add to the realism of the novel. The most obvious symbol of the novel is the actual scarlet letter ‘A’ that Hester wears on her chest every day, but Hawthorne also uses Hester’s daughter Pearl and their surroundings as symbols as well. Allegory is present as well in The Scarlet Letter and is created through the character types of several characters in the novel.