Feminism in the scarlet letter essay. Feminism in the scarlet letter Essay Example 2022-10-15
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Feminism, as a movement, fights for the social, political, and economic equality of all genders. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, the main character, Hester Prynne, embodies feminist ideals as she resists the oppressive puritan society in which she lives and fights for her own autonomy and agency.
At the beginning of the novel, Hester is ostracized by the community for giving birth to a child out of wedlock. She is forced to wear a scarlet "A" on her chest as punishment and is shunned by the puritan community. Despite the harsh treatment she receives, Hester refuses to name the father of her child and takes on the punishment for her sin on her own. This act of defiance and refusal to conform to the expectations of the patriarchal society shows Hester's strength and independence.
Furthermore, Hester uses her skills as a seamstress to provide for herself and her daughter, Pearl, despite the limited opportunities available to women in puritan society. She becomes a successful businesswoman and is able to support herself and her daughter financially. This further demonstrates Hester's agency and ability to challenge traditional gender roles.
Additionally, Hester's relationships with other characters in the novel challenge traditional gender roles and expectations. For example, her relationship with the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale is one of mutual respect and understanding, rather than one of hierarchy and submission. Hester also has a close relationship with the town outcast, Roger Chillingworth, and it is through this relationship that she is able to gain power and agency in the male-dominated society.
In conclusion, Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter embodies feminist ideals as she resists the oppressive puritan society and fights for her own autonomy and agency. Through her relationships with other characters, her business endeavors, and her refusal to conform to societal expectations, Hester challenges traditional gender roles and expectations and emerges as a strong, independent woman.
Feminism In The Scarlet Letter Essay
Through her suffering, Hester had become an inspiring symbol of strength for the community. In 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne published a novel entitled The Scarlet Letter. During that they had strict rules that everyone had to follow. The word is often misunderstood repeatedly by people who think that feminist put men down to make women look better. He begins the novel as the town reverend, and later, the shame of Hester accepting the entirety of the blame and the fact that he escaped with no punishment or shame from the town ultimately consumed him. Women were always thought to be inferior to men.
Hawthorne's Use Of Irony In Scarlet Letter 736 Words 3 Pages When you think of a Puritan society, what comes to your mind? Women are already strong. The Scarlet Letter narrates the story of a strong woman who took control of her life, no matter the consequences. Because Puritan society greatly suppressed many women, feminism is quite impossible at that time. Meanwhile, Hester refuses to reveal who her lover is and thus, Dimmesdale is able to maintain his facade of a pure and holy reverend. Although she suffered enormously from the consequences of committing adultery, Hester did not allow isolation, shame, or judgement to dominate her life. Feminism needs to be redefined and revealed for what it really is, gender equality.
It is through her struggles that Hawthorne gets across his primary themes. Subjectivity across the community and throughout time changes the meaning of a symbol society implements to control an idea. Although, with that said, it is undeniable that there are forms of feminism in this piece. They felt very strongly about people getting what they so deserved in return of their sins. Well, that is what it says on paper, but is it really that perfect? When she is brought from the prison to the scaffold to be mocked and condemned by the entire community, she does not cry, break down, or attack back. The detail represents ,the deep beauty Hester has inside although most people do not see her as a beutiful women.
Feminism In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter
In The Scarlet Letter Hawthorne uses his background knowledge and familiarity with the Puritan Forgiveness In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter 159 Words 1 Pages In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne pinpoints various effects of sin on individuals within a strict, Puritan society. Women of all races and cultures have always been given a lower status than men. Despite that, M'Lynn learned the hard way that she cannot always control her daughter, Shelby,… Sin In Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The Scarlet Letter' Hester submitted without complaint to the worst it could offer, and she never begged for sympathy. After seven long years, she is incorporating herself back into the community due to her superb sewing skills. More profoundly, she has lost her passion to her transformation.
Although feminism can be found in almost any place in the world, feminism in the …show more content… Such helpfulness was found in her, -so much power to do, and power to sympathize, - that many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification. . In The Scarlet Letter, a novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a narcissistic personality is seen in the character of Dimmesdale, the reverend in the Puritan town of 17th century Boston, and secret lover of Hester Prynne. However, she is a married woman. Throughout the novel, Chillingworth and Dimmesdale have a rather dark and twisted relationship. Literary devices can make a passage have a whole different meaning. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a prime example of an outside-in view of a society.
Near the end of the novel, when Hester returns from Europe to Boston without Pearl, Hester still continues to wear the letter. Based upon the religious, governmental, and social design of the society, Hester's entire existence revolved around her sin and the Puritan perception thereof; this association breaks way to society significantly becoming involved in her life. A woman having her own thoughts is an unrealistic idea in Gilead. During this time period in history, women were believed to be strongly dependent on their husbands and fathers. He empowers her character, and describes how her strength helps her through public mockery and humiliation. The Puritan society molded itself and created a government based upon the Bible and implemented it with force. As Hester becomes more independent and learns how to support herself and Pearl, she becomes emotionally stronger than Dimmesdale.
Hester Prynne is the very embodiment of feminism because of her refusal to adhere to the societal norms, her independence socially and in thought, and how the view of what the society thinks of her changes through the novel. She accepted the crucial comments from those who condemned The Awakening from libraries and continued to write stories on feminism. To understand how Hester Prynne is an early feminist, we first must take a look at the definition of feminism. In …show more content… The rights of women were nonexistent and were far away to be prevalent. Elizabeth I was very brave she did not care who you were she was not afraid. . She did not let the letter stop her from doing so even if people turned her away because of it.
She is not able to go anywhere without people running away from her, because they do not want to catch her evil spirits. Fuller wrote the first feminist writing in the Western Hemisphere entitled Women in the Nineteenth Century, in which she addressed the deep, morally wrong gap between men and women in America. Hester chose to raise a child by herself in isolation and protected the ones she loved. Time is progressing and tolerance and change are inevitable as more and more women become stronger and rise to What Is The Significance Of Adultery In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne Hester may have been a sinner, but she was a selfless and generous woman who wanted to help those in need. Hester committed adultery with minister Dimmesdale and had a child with him, Pearl. She showed that her weakness did not come between her and her sin.
