In the first part of this term paper a short overview of the situation of
women from the seventeenth century until the middle of the nineteenth century
will be given. Further on, it will then be demonstrated how women challenged
the existing female images and how they fought for equal rights. The main part
discusses if the heroine of the romance, Hester Prynne, can be considered as a
representative of a new female image or if she fits into the image of a
traditional woman of the seventeenth century.
Table of contents
1. Introduction
2. Development of Female Images
2.1. Traditional Female Images
2.2. New Female Images
3. Hester - An Emancipated Woman
4. Conclusion
5. Bibliography
1. Introduction
The Scarlet Letter, written in 1850, is probably Nathaniel Hawthorne’s best work and therefore considered as one of the most important works in American literature. Hester Prynne, who is the heroine of Hawthorne’s romance, is married to Roger Chillingworth. While he stays in Europe, he sends his wife ahead to the New World, but actually never follows her. However, while waiting for her husband to come, she has an affair with the minister Arthur Dimmesdale, after which Pearl is born. Hester, as she has committed adultery, is punished by the Puritan community to wear the scarlet letter “A” on her breast. The heroine, forced to live on the outskirts, is isolated and excluded from the normal community life and has to lead a life full of shame. Through her alienation from the rest of the world, Hester Prynne becomes a self-reliant single mother.
The romance is set in seventeenth century Puritan New England and in those times women were regarded as inferior to men. But although Hester is a woman, she is not a passive character but rather a strong-minded woman who is longing for equality between men and women. The purpose of this term paper is to explore to what extent Hester is not a typical Puritan woman and if the protagonist of the romance can thus be regarded as a representative of a new type of woman.
In the first part of this term paper a short overview of the situation of women from the seventeenth century until the middle of the nineteenth century will be given. Further on, it will then be demonstrated how women challenged the existing female images and how they fought for equal rights. The main part discusses if the heroine of the romance, Hester Prynne, can be considered as a representative of a new female image or if she fits into the image of a traditional woman of the seventeenth century.
2. Development of Female Images
The idea of different gender roles has dominated American culture far into the 20th century. Two of the major femininity concepts were the Puritan Goodwife, a traditional female image which was predominant in colonial America, and the
New Woman, which emerged in the late 19th century (cf. Klaiber 322). In the following chapters I will shortly introduce these concepts as well as explain some rights and duties of women in those times.
2.1. Traditional Female Images
Nowadays, a modern woman could probably not imagine to live as a woman in colonial America. At that time, the concept of the Puritan Goodwife was predominant until some Enlightement ideas emerged. “The notion of woman as Goodwife or her husband’s helpmeet goes back to the Bible, which describes woman as subordinate to man, and was particularly fostered by New England Puritans” (Klaiber 322).
Women were “dead in law” (Allen Vandehaar 132) and their status could be seen as a kind of legal slavery. The husband was the master, who had absolute rights over his wife, her children and her property. The woman had to be humble and obedient to her husband. “The ideal woman was presumed to be pure, delicate, pious, and maternal; the expectation was that she would marry, reproduce, raise her children, create a comfortable home, and find fulfillment through her family” (McMillen 12).
Men and women lived completely different lives. These assumptions created the concept of separate spheres. While women belonged to the private or domestic sphere, men belonged to the public sphere. “Men’s place was in the ‘world’ and women’s was in the kitchen, nursery, and drawing room, the two spheres being eternally and unalterably opposed” (Allen Vandehaar 135). Women were hence kept away from education. Only men had access to good education. Women should focus on their household duties; education would only distract them from being a good housewife and mother (cf. Allen Vandehaar 133).
So a woman’s life only consisted of the “restriction to the domestic sphere and their personal dependence on men in everyday life” (Klaiber 306). At the beginning of the nineteenth century, women were still considered inferior to men, but some women started to challenge this traditional female image and tried to improve their current situation.
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