Theme Of Patriarchy In The Scarlet Letter

Throughout history, many societies have been controlled by a patriarchy where women were oppressed. This is a very common occurrence, especially in Puritan communities during the early settlement of America. Adrienne Rich, a feminist poet, discusses the inequalities in male dominated societies in her essay “When We Dead Awaken: Writing as Re-Vision.” Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter reflects the themes seen in Rich’s essay. In his novel, Hester Prynne challenges society’s expectations of women, yet is still confined in “a culture controlled by males.”

In Rich’s essay, one of the ideas she discusses is that men do not completely understand women and their needs, so because of this, they create problems in women’s lives. She also includes

that some of these problems are that women start to lose their understanding of themselves and their chances of survival in the patriarchy. By living and experiencing daily oppression, one may simply accept it. Yet, rejection of such a problematic patriarchy is expressed not only by Rich, but also by Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter.
In the novel, Hester defies the strict Puritan laws and commits adultery with Arthur Dimmesdale, which she is heavily punished for.

One of the problems Rich mentioned is the culture is controlled by male thought. The women seem to hate Hester a lot more than the men do, calling her a malefactress and a hussy and saying, “...they should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne’s forehead…” (36). The cause of their hatred may have misogynistic roots, since women at the time were looked down upon for having many partners, even though men were praised for it. It is like Rich explains as a “specter of...male judgement...” For her official punishment, Hester is forced to permanently wear a scarlet letter ‘A’ on her clothes. But she embellishes the letter with gold embroidering, something that goes “greatly beyond what was allowed in the colony” (37). While Hester was ostracized, her male counterpart did not suffer from the town’s harsh judgement. In fact, the only reason she got punished was because she had a child, and the magistrates barely tried to look for the father. Despite that, Hester’s “scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread” (137).

Overall, Hester Prynne and Adrienne Rich both have similar, progressive ideals. Though in the end, Hester is a defiant and radical woman, she accepts the penance that was inflicted on her, showing how a society completely run by men can negatively influence the quality of a woman’s

life.