scarlet letter essay #46082474English & Literature
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The Scarlet Letter Proto-Feminist Novel
Introduction
The scarlet letter which was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a proto-feminist novel as Hawthorne chose a woman as his character during a period when the Puritan society did not know the concept of feminism and the importance of women in a society that the male-dominated.
Hester Prynne suffered lots of ridicule, shame, and embarrassment as a feminist who got a child out of a conventional wedding set up. Prynne struggled to rebuild her life as the society stigmatized her and called her names.
Thesis Statement
Although Hawthorne stereotypes women and feels threatened by the possibility of women transcending their roles in the 19th-century setting, the Scarlet Letter is a pro-feminist novel due to Hester’s ambition, power and ability to think.
First Body Paragraph:
Main Topic Sentence: Power
With her relationship with Roger Chillingworth, Dimmesdale, and the town residents, Hester has the power as a woman to control the happenings in the novel. The direction of happenings in the novel is under her power and control.
Setup 1: Town
Quotation 1:
"Heaven hath granted thee an open ignominy, which thereby thou mayest work out an open triumph over the evil within thee, and the sorrow without. Take heed how thou deniest to him, who, perchance, hath not the courage to grasp it for himself, the bitter, but wholesome, a cup to thy lips!" The comment means that Hester has a choice of exposing the person who impregnated her and redeem herself from the shame she was facing before the town people.
Analysis 1:
The first instance where Hester has the power to control the happenings is at the town market where she faces cruelty and punishment. Hester stands for three hours though she had the power to name Dimmesdale and shame him to free her from the town’s condemnation.
Setup 2: Town
Hester meets with Roger Chillingworth, her husband who requests her to keep the secret of his identity and their past relationship when he meets her alone. Hester acquires some form of power to control Chillingworth and would threaten to reveal his true identity.
Quotation 2:
Chillingworth said that "Elsewhere a wanderer, isolated from human interests, I find here a woman, a man, a child amongst whom and myself the closest ligaments," point out his surprise to meet those he relates with in quite a surprising manner. Chillingworth did not expect to meet Hester in such a situation because he thought he was alone without any person who knew him.
Analysis 2:
Hester had the power and opportunity to reveal Chillingworth's secret but she does not. Hester accepts to keep the secret, revealing the power of a woman to keep secret and chose what would happen to Chillingworth’s life. As a woman, Hester exercises her power wisely for the greater good.
Setup 3: Town
Hester as a woman had the power of revealing the father of her child but she refuses. Additionally, Hester though a woman refused to name her child after her father but uses her maternal power to name her Pearl.
Quotation 3:
"But she named the infant 'Pearl,' as being of great price- purchased with all she had- her mother's only pleasure," which signifies Hester’s love for her daughter Pearl whom she bore under difficult circumstances, Chapter VI, 'Pearl, '.
Second body paragraph:
Main Topic Sentence: Ambition
Hester’s ambitious nature keeps her going and determines to overcome every other challenge for a better future. Hester is an ambitious woman who looks forward for a better future than her present misery.
Setup 1: Town
Quotation 1:
"Not now, dear child," answered Hester. "But in days to come, he will walk hand in hand with us. We will have a home and fireside of our own, and thou shalt sit upon his knee, and he will teach thee many things, and love thee dearly. Thou wilt love him; wilt thou not?" Hester’s word towards Pearl signifies that due to their current situation, Dimmesdale cannot openly accept Pearl as his daughter as he was afraid of the shame that would befall him. In the future, however, points that Hester hopes for a family together and that Pearl would love her father Dimmesdale.
Analysis 1:
Hester talks to her child, Pearl and showing her ambition for a better future as a family together with her husband Dimmesdale.
Setup 2: Forest woods
Quotation 2:
“Doth the universe lie within the compass of yonder town, which only a little time ago was but a leaf-strewn desert, as lonely as this around us? Does whither lead yonder forest track? Backwards to the settlement, thou sayest! Yes; but onward too! Deeper it goes, and deeper, into the wilderness, less plainly to be seen at every step! Until, some few miles hence, the yellow leaves will show no vestige of the white man’s tread. There thou art free! So brief a journey would bring thee from a world where thou hast been most wretched, to one where thou mayest still be happy!”(17.46). Hester’s comments symbolizes a long life full of suffering that she has experienced which shall soon come to an end and open new life for her after overcoming the present challenges.
Analysis 2:
Hester’s ambitious nature keeps her hoping for a better future despite her current situation makes her look beyond the present circumstances. Hester has an ambition of free life without having to live on her past sinful nature.
Setup 3: Scaffold
Quotation 3:
Hester’s comment that “All the dread of public exposure that had so long been the anguish of his life had returned to him,” indicates how Dimmesdale feared the revelation of truth, something he had hid for long was haunting him since the people would know that he was Pearl’s father.
“O Hester, what a thought is that and how terrible to dread it!-that my own features were partly repeated in her face, and so strikingly that the world might see them!” symbolizes the resemblance between Pearl and her father. Pearl took after her father and that terrified her father Dimmesdale.
Analysis 3:
Pearl, his daughter asks Dimmesdale her father to stand with them at the scaffold in daylight and he panics. Pearl’s action of approaching Dimmesdale and asks him to join them indicates a woman’s ambition of having a complete family.
Third paragraph
Hester portrays herself as a woman with clear thinking ability in every situation she finds herself in. Hester thinks critically before making any decision or responding to situations she comes across. The evidence of Hester’s ability to think is clear in a number of instances in various set ups.
Set up 1: Town
Quotation 1:
Hester says that “God gave her into my keeping,” repeated Hester Prynne, raising her voice almost to a shriek. “I will not give her up!” which implies that Pearl was her daughter and she would not allow anyone to take Pearl away from her or adopt her daughter. Hester was determined to raise her daughter as a mother.
Analysis 1:
The sudden outburst of Hester indicates her thinking ability as a mother willing to take care of her daughter. Hester could not accept the thought of leaving her child for someone else to take care of.
Set up 2: Forest woods
Quotation 2:
“Why dost thou smile so at me?” “Art thou like the Black Man that haunts the forest round about us? Hast thou enticed me into a bond that will prove the ruin of my soul?” Hester’s comment symbolizes the Dimmesdale’s irony because he was smiling ironically after letting her go through a painful experience. A “black man” symbolizes the doom and suffering that Dimmesdale had brought into her life.
Analysis 2:
Hester, upon meeting with Dimmesdale, quickly thought of the problems that Dimmesdale would cause her due to her quick ability to think. Hester quickly thought of the worst outcome following her interaction with Dimmesdale.
Quotation 3:
Hester’s outburst of "Yes, I hate him!" repeated Hester, more bitterly than before. "He betrayed me! He has done me worse wrong than I did him!" Hester reveals her hatred for Dimmesdale who could not support her during her suffering yet he is the one who impregnated and caused her ridicule, shame and pain. (15.2-4).
Analysis 3:
Hester has enhanced her thinking ability and realized that Dimmesdale wronged her more than she did. When she thought of his wrongdoing, her realization becomes clearly thought out and she feels hatred for Dimmesdale.
Concession paragraph
Hester developed ability to think following her experiences. Hester looks at situations differently and that makes Hawthorne to think she has lost her womanhood which is a false perception. The truth is that Hester has developed high sense of thinking ability, overcoming her challenges as a feminine which surprises Hawthorne as he says that “She had not known the weight until she felt the freedom.”
Conclusion
The role of Hester throughout the novel reveals the pro-feminist nature of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s portrayal of women’s resiliency when it comes to ambition, power and the ability of thinking. Hester, despite her beginnings, goes through the challenges and eventually emerges victorious and manages to change the attitude of the town people’s perception of women as a weaker gender. Dimmesdale could not survive the challenge and his death and Hester surviving indicate the strength of a woman.