Physiognomy Scarlet Letter

In the 1850’s, America was undergoing a massive internal changes via the industrial revolution. With this new era, American culture was drastically changed as women started to take a more prominent role in American society. In his novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne attempts to stimulate this change by illustrating the positive influence of a strong female character in a Puritanical society through his heroine, Hester Prynne, by putting her in a scandalous situation capable of drawing out the worst in people.

Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays the ideology of Puritan society in the novel the Scarlet Letter; however reader also get to witness his characters being an illustration of hypocrisy and victims to their own guilt. In the Scarlet Letter, as in many of Hawthorne’s shorter works, he makes profuse use of the Puritan past: its odd exclusionary belief, its harsh code of ruling, its concern with sex and witchcraft. The Scarlet Letter is a story that is embellished but yet simple. Many readers may view this novel as a soap opera due to the way Hawthorne conveys this Puritan society’s sense of strictness and inability to express true emotion along with the secrecy and how deceiving the characters are being. As the story unfolds the main character Hester Prynne is bounded in marriage at an early age. She engages in an adulterous affair with an unknown member of their small village. Hester soon becomes pregnant and with her husband’s absence the chances of this child belonging to her husband are slim. The towns’ people know that she has committed a sin and imprisons her for her crime.

Her being forced to wear the scarlet letter which led her to becoming a women’s advocate reflects the theme that good things come from bad. There was plenty of negative backlash to Hester's mistake, however she gained the ability to help other women struggling just like her. “They said that it meant Able, so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman's strength” (pg 177, Hawthorne). The sin she committed and the experience gained through the aftermath of that sin, gives her insight on what it's like to be a woman who's being discriminated. Raising her daughter on her own and her saving her from harming herself reflects the theme that everyone makes mistakes. After all Hester is human just like everyone else. It is in our nature to make mistakes or even sin. “It is remarkable, that persons who speculate the most boldly often conform with the most perfect quietude to the external regulations of society” (pg 181, Hawthorne). The actions we take to reverse or to compensate for that sin is what makes us who we are as individuals. Her being alienated from society and developing an independent thinking mindset mirrors the theme that one must acknowledge their mistakes to learn from them. Hester’s society made it abundantly clear that what she did was absolutely heinous and that she needs to repent and beg for forgiveness. The isolation she suffered through helped her become an independent thinker and develop thoughts that we would consider ahead of her time. “The world's law was no law for her mind” (pg 180, Hawthorne). Being excluded socially gave her a chance to dwell in her own thoughts and gather perceptions different from that of other puritans. This decision that Hester makes is very important to the story because it mirrors many of the major themes the author tried getting across to its

In his work “On the Scarlet Letter,” D.H. Lawrence addresses the controversial character of Hester Prynne. He is just one of many critics who have analyzed Nathaniel Hawthorne’s fictional character, where some look to her as a hero and others blatantly shame her for her sin. Lawrence makes up the latter of this crowd, and is able to prove his case in a very meaningful manner. The critic believes that Hawthorne sugarcoats Hester’s image, and tries to make it look as if she is the victim of the tale. Disregarding this sympathy, he addresses the root cause of her sin rather than its consequences. As he writes, he uses a multitude of literary techniques to help convince readers of Hester’s seemingly evil character, using descriptive diction, a

Although Hester consistently displays her composure and strength, she is still regarded as weak because she is a woman. When elaborating on the ‘A’ Hester must wear on her bosom, the narrator describes Hester as “the general symbol at which the preacher and moralist might point, and in which they might vivify and embody their images of woman 's frailty and sinful passion” (53). In town, men point to Hester to depict women’s weaknesses. Regardless of Hester’s actions, she is still viewed as inferior to other men. As the novel progresses, Hester proves her worth to society by feeding the poor and nursing the sick. The narrator then notes that “some attribute had departed from her, the permanence of which had been essential to keep her a woman” (100). Instead of entertaining the idea that a woman could naturally be strong and helpful, those around Hester view the change as Hester losing her womanhood. She is not seen as a strong woman. Rather, her act of gaining strength is regarded as the loss of her womanhood. This overtly sexist standard suggests that Hawthorne thought it to be

Mark Van Doren’s “Hester Prynne” explains how the Scarlet Letter addresses Hawthorne’s opinion and view of Hester. Van Doren’s “Hester Prynne” article explains how Hawthorne praises Hester in his novel. Mark Van Doren goes in depth and provides literary devices to explain his point of Hawthorne’s reference to Hester. The author uses mythological allusion, praising tone, and specific diction.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel ‘The Scarlet Letter’, the protagonist Hester Prynne is the main focus of the novel as she is depreciated for committing the act of adultery. The novel conveys the issues of gender roles while Hester is the focus of scorn in the small puritan town of Boston along with clear disdain for her daughter Pearl, the product of her mother’s act of adultery. During the time, Hester is trying to repent for her “sins” by trying to live her life as best as she can to appease the townspeople,but to no avail. Hawthorne uses gender’s to call attention to the way in which society is set up, along with women being the focus of discontent when caught in a wrongdoing while men do not receive the same punishment. Instead, punishment is usually lax for men, proving a great difference between the two genders.

" Hawthorne makes note of the various meanings of the letter "A" in the novel; at first it stands for "Adulterer," then at various times "Angel" and "Able." Hester was able to effect this heroic transformation by accepting the consequences of her actions, unlike Dimmesdale, and she ultimately triumphs over them. Hester Prynne is seen as “among the first and most important female protagonists in American literature. She’s the embodiment of deep contradictions: bad and beautiful, holy and sinful, conventional and radical… [she] can be seen as Hawthorne’s literary contemplation of what happens when women break cultural bounds and gain personal power.”

Hawthorne's Portrayal of Strength Against Gender Biases By writing The Scarlet Letter and having it set in the seventeenth century, Nathaniel Hawthorne was able to provide insight as to how the Puritan society frowned upon sinning. Not only did he show how sinning was frowned upon, but how his protagonist, Hester Prynne, was able to overcome obstacles and make a living for herself and her daughter, Pearl, in a society where a branded, estranged wife acting as head of household was not common, nor readily accepted. Between living with the scarlet letter and providing for herself and Pearl, Hester Prynne symbolized a strong female role in the seventeenth century. Hawthorne hoped that the character of Hester would encourage the women of his time to become strong like her.

Her life cannot be dictated by what others think of her. In time, Hester finally learns that her sins do not define her self-worth, but merely open the doors to self-forgiveness. Hawthorne implemented symbolisms throughout

Through the book her punishments for this sin continually push her to become a stronger person. In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses certain characters to show and demonstrate the effects that guilt can have on someone. Hester Prynne is the protagonist this this novel about the sin of adultery and its punishments in a Puritan society. Hester seems to accept her punishments and own up to what she was guilty for. As punishment

Written in 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter stood as a very progressive book. With new ideas about women, main characters’ stories intertwined, and a multitude of themes, The Scarlet Letter remains today as an extremely popular novel about 17th century Boston, Massachusetts. Not only was the 19th century a time for the abolition of slavery movement, but it was also the beginning of the first wave of feminism, the advocacy of women's rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes. Many may believe that because of this introduction to feminism, the novel directly pertains to the ideology of it. Hester Prynne, protagonist of The Scarlet Letter, shows similar qualities of a feminist, such as strength and independence. Although these traits are similar to that of feminist, Hester encompasses a strict form of maternal instinct, which distinguishes her drive for action from the feminist movement entirely.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s purpose for Hester Prynne is to show that even when the weight of sin and guilt is bearing down on your shoulders, just put it all behind you and do whatever you can to live a normal life. Hester lived the most normal life she could manage, yet she walked around the colony a living testimony. She was the contradiction in the so called “perfect” world the Puritans created. They told her that she was

Hawthorne is trying to advocate about the women in the society though the main protagonist, Hester Prynne and her actions. He is able to utilize the character of Hester to show the contrast of what the society wishes women would be and act like. She endures the shame of public humiliation from the other ‘perfect’ Puritans and is eventually able to put up a shield to protect and save herself from all the negativity; this shield ultimately establishes an improved female image. Hester acquires unruly and bold energy along with a tough mindset, “the tendency of her fate and fortunes had been to set her free. The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread (174). Perhaps Hawthorne was trying to get across that

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, themes of sin and guilt are prominently displayed in the traits of the characters. The novel indicates the strong romantic presence of that time. It revolves around a young woman who is struggling to fit into a new town in a 17th century Puritan society. Hester Prynne, after moving to America to prepare a home for her husband Roger, makes a mostly independent life for herself in what is now Boston, Massachusetts. Some time later, she is falsely informed that her husband has perished in a shipwreck while he was on his way to America to meet her. Hester turns to her minister for guidance and becomes involved in an affair with him. She soon discovers