Hester Prynne In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

The novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a dark romantic novel, in which feminism is highly supported. The Puritan society during the early settlements in the Americas were highly restricting, especially to females. This novel surrounds the story of a woman, Hester Prynne, who committed the sin of adultery, and how she copes with the shame and punishments put on her by the society, but her actions and the way that Nathaniel Hawthorne has brought life to this character clearly has a feminist touch to it. Examples of this is pervasive throughout the novel, for example, her pride and prowess while she stands on the scaffold in the beginning of the story, the way she continues to live alone on the edge of town without the help of anyone else on the edge of town, which is a hard task at the

time for a woman, regarding the fact that women were highly restricted back then, and also how by the end of the novel, she is admired and looked up at by many other women and citizens of Boston.  Even as she stands up on the scaffold, Hester Prynne stands with a certain pride.

She admits to her sin, and she admits that what she has done may be wrong, but she still carries a certain pride and power in her steps. The narrator in chapter three describes Hester, “ It was whispered, by those who peered after her that the scarlet letter threw a lurid gleam along the dark passage-way of the interior”(72). Although she has just been publicly shamed by all the ministers and men and every citizen in the town, Hester has no shame. She has a “so what if I committed a sin” attitude, indicating that she has no regrets to what she has committed, and even if anyone brings her down for having given birth to an illegitimate child, she will still continue to live and raise that child. This sense of pride can be described as a feminist notion because, back then, during the Puritan times, it was hard to come back from a sin that one has committed, especially if you were a female because women were considered even more inferior than they are today, and her pride and her willingness to continue fighting and not stop swinging further strengthens this feminist theme in the

story.  Even though the whole Puritan society of Boston has shunned her and shamed her, instead of running away from society and starting a new life, she decides that she will continue living in Boston, and show everyone how great of a fighter she is. This quote describes how, now willing to live alone, Hester lives on the edge of town by herself with her baby, “What she compelled herself to believe,—what, finally, she reasoned upon, as her motive for continuing a resident of New England,...” (83). Although she had many opportunities to leave Boston and start a new life, Hester decides that instead that she will stay in Boston and lead her own life. This sense of solitude and willingness to prove others wrong drives her throughout the story. Again that sense of pride in her is radiant here. This pride and willingness to take care of herself and Pearl alone amidst the Puritan society, the same one that shunned her, again emits a sense of femininity.  The final example is that by the end of the book, She has become a figure to other woman to look up to. She has become a symbol of hope and counselling. This sense of being idolized shows how her solitary lifestyle and how she succeeded on her own, a woman, shunned by society for her action during the Puritan era, truly emits a feminist mind-set. This quote provides an example of how she is looked upon, “And, as Hester Prynne had no selfish ends, [...] people brought all their sorrows and perplexities,...” (273). Hester is looked up at, and her goal of proving her worthiness as a woman to society has come true. Her feminist message has been passed along to many generations to come.