How Is Hester Prynne's Role In A Patriarchal Society

When Hester Prynne refuses to name the father of her child she sets herself apart from every other woman in puritan society. Nathaniel Hawthorne paints Hester Prynne as a feminist icon by making her a woman who makes a choice that goes against the moral code of her society. By using a female lead in his novel the scarlet letter Nathaniel Hawthorne illustrates his understanding of the disadvantage women are given in a patriarchal society. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is portrayed as a woman whose every move is met with mockery and adversity and is able to keep her head up regardless as she is used as a figurehead of the feminist movement of her time.

“Throughout them all, giving up her individuality, she would become the general symbol at which the preacher and moralist might point, and in which they

might vivify and embody their images of women’s frailty and sinful passion.”(Hawthorne p. 71). The moment Hester stands before the edifice on top of the pillory she will be used for the rest of her life as an example. Hester’s demeanor throughout the story is very standoffish, she tries throughout the story to interact as little as possible. To react as little as possible. Throughout the entire story Prynne tries to remain apathetic or at least seem that way. The moment she is convicted Hester loses all desire to be a functioning member of puritan society despite her desire to attend church.

Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Hester Prynne’s character to illustrate his understanding of the difference of expectations between men and women in a patriarchal society.

He even says as much in a letter to his mother a year or so before he enters college. “Oh how i wish i was again with you with nothing to do but go a gunning. but the happiest days of my life are gone . why was i not a girl that i might have been pinned all my life to my mother’s apron” (Hawthorne, N. letters, 1;117 ). Nina Baym says “Given the conspicuous gun image Hawthorne is not complaining about his gender but about the rules that force a boy.. into the cold patriarchal world.” (Baym, N., Feminism and American Literary History, 45). This is to say that Hawthorne recognized and understood that men and women were held at two different standards and expected to do two different things. Hawthorne portrays his character Prynne as woman who breaks against one of those standards by 0questioning the virginity equals worth theory which is disproven by the end of the story which shows that the town’s people accept Hester despite the lurid circumstances of her

deflowering.
Dimmesdale’s deeds of hypocrisy further illustrate Hawthorne’s understanding of these roles. “The feminist concern comes to the fact that a society blames the woman for sexual intercourse whereas the male partner is equally punishable.” ( Azam,A., Language in India: The Woman is the Victim, 3/6) The fact that the town’s people were willing to shoulder all the blame on Hester once she refused to name the child’s father, brings the question, were the town people more upset with Hester’s strong demeanor or with the fact that she cheated on her presumably dead husband? Were the town’s people more willing to put the blame on Hester rather than her male counterpart? These questions posed to the audience hint even more so at Hawthorne’s understanding of societal gender roles.

Throughout the entirety of Hawthorne’s novel though his nods at feminist ideals may not be outright they are there if the reader chooses to look for them. Hester is a character with a strong and prideful demeanor, brought down by the mocking and alienation she experiences everyday and yet she is only seen as faulty because she made a choice for herself. Hawthorne wrote a character who made a choice for themselves when that was not allowed. A character that made a choice when women were seen as the most foolish of all and he made her strong. A character who was given a mark of shame and used their skills to normalize it and bring it into their lives. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is portrayed as a woman whose every move is met with mockery and adversity and is able to keep her head up regardless as she is used as a figurehead of the feminist movement of her time.