Embracing a Feminist Nature: A Theory

Hawthorne as Hester - Embracing a Feminist Nature: A Theory

Hester Prynne remains a living force of feminist strength as she stands between the literary arguments of Hawthorne’s possible intentions of portraying his protagonist as either a central figure of feminist empowerment for women, in retrospect to the interpretations of his views on feminism of the timeframe, or a woman oppressed by her sins under the tyranny of puritanical injustice. While some argue for Hester’s feminist virtues without closer introspection of her literary creator, much could be discerned regarding Hester’s feminine presence by speculating that Hawthorne wrote Hester as the feminine version of himself trapped within the injustices of a patriarchal world. There is no doubt, that by entertaining the possibility of Hawthorne as Hester, a compelling argument has already been made by the literary critics for the heroic feminism of Hester. Through a brief analysis of Hawthorne’s role as Hester within The Scarlet Letter, ambiguity transforms into a multidimensional representation of a strong intellectual woman struggling against opposing forces that are created by the injustices of a patriarchal society and that are resisted by the unique and powerfully effectual tactic of silence.

In order to erase any doubt regarding Hawthorne’s intentions in creating Hester as a strong feminist character – the feminized Hawthorne - it is crucial to pay close attention to the autobiographical nature of the Custom House and the symbolism of what Pearl represents to Hawthorne as Hester’s child. Hawthorne, nurtured by his mother, bereft of father, and endowed with the heart of a genuine writer, entered into a masculine world with opposing forces of gender rioting inside him....

... middle of paper ...

...erstanding in Hawthorne’s intentions. “Hawthorne may be aligning himself with the rebellious daughters – the “scribbling women” (he calls himself a ‘scribbler’ at the end of the Custom House sketch) – rather than with the male novelists of his time” (Last 353). Rather, his complaints may indeed have been frustration in trying to achieve success with his own writing as he himself identified as a ‘scribbler.’

Works Cited

Doubleday, Neal Frank. “Hawthorne’s Hester and Feminism.” PMLA 54.3 (1939): 825-28.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Bantam, 2003.

Last, Suzan. “Hawthorne’s Feminine Voices: Reading “The Scarlet Letter” as a Woman.” The

Journal of Narrative Technique. 27.3 (1997): 349-76.

Jr, Leland S. Person. “Hester’s Revenge: The Power of Silence in the Scarlet Letter.”

Nineteenth-Century Literature. 43.4 (1989): 465-83.