Dean

Blake DeanPostellAmerican Literature22 November 2015

Hester Prynne and Monica Lewinsky: The Culture of Degradation

Literature often reveals ideas that were relevant for the time that the piece was written. However, there are some works that have modern day parallels so striking that it makes the work eternally relevant. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of these special novels. Through Hester Prynne, Hawthorne shows how overwhelming judgmental and hateful onlookers could be towards a decision they view as wrong. Looking at modern history, Monica Lewinsky is a staggeringly similar parallel to Hester Prynne. Although the time when Hester lived was much different than the twentieth century world when Monica had her affair, the culture of degradation was still heavily prominent in both. Both of these characters made a decision that was viewed as wrong and were condemned for it. This condemnation affected their futures, their strength and their happiness. These women lived centuries apart, but their individual struggles are similar. Both Hester Prynne and Monica Lewinsky faced persecution verbally, socially and personally. These women were surrounded by strangers who looked down upon them and both were unfairly labelled. Their stories show the true hurt words can cause and when looked at side by side it can be seen that disrespect is not ceasing, it is thriving. Hester Prynne is the protagonist in Nathaniel Hawthornes novel ,The Scarlet Letter, which is set in the middle of the seventeenth century. Hester is a married woman, but her husband sent her alone ahead of him to America. In the beginning of the story, the reader sees Hester holding her child. She has embroidered a scarlet A upon her bust, as a label for what she has done. By reading the conversations of the women observing her public humiliation, the reader can imply that the A stands for adulterer. The surrounding gossips long to see this woman, who brought shame on us all (Hawthorne 63 ) be put to death for her actions. One of these women suggests that at the very least, they should have put a brand of hot iron on Hester Prynnes forehead. By writing these specific divulgences of the surrounding commoners, Hawthorne gives the reader insight into what the public attitude towards adultery would have been at that time. The attitude that his writing exudes can be described as disgusted and self-righteously judgmental. Strangely enough, this overwhelming judgment is not disposed of during the advancement of the human race and it still exists three centuries later, in 1998. On January 21, 1998 it was publicly announced that the Independent Counsel was investigating President Bill Clinton for committing perjury and other crimes of obstruction of justice in an effort to conceal a sexual affair with a young White House worker named Monica Lewinsky (Posner). Monica, who once lived a private life, was a household name from that day forward. She quickly gained negative attention and became the focus of every media outlet. In fact, her name is used in some variation in approximately one hundred and twenty-eight rap songs, and there has been impersonations of her performed on twelve different episodes of Saturday Night Live. She became the punchline to every joke and the surefire way to get an easy laugh. Lewinsky says herself, I was patient zero of losing a personal reputation on a global scale almost instantaneously, around the world, this story wentI was made a scapegoat to protect his (Clinton) powerful position (Lewinsky 2014). Hesters story and Monicas story are similar in the way each of them were wrongly judged and condemned. A difference between these two cases of adultery, is the vocabulary used to describe them and the way in which these words gained popular use. Hester Prynne lived in a less technologically advanced time than Monica, so while the reaction of the public was similar, it was on a much smaller scale. In the Puritan settlement of what is now Boston, Hester was labeled many things such as: hussy, malefactress and the naughty baggage. (Hawthorne 62-63) Some were too disgusted to utter any word that would give her an identity so these onlookers simply addressed her as this woman. (63) Hesters story and these labels were spread by word of mouth throughout the settlement and gained much momentum, becoming the majority opinion. However, in the case of Monica Lewinsky the rise of technology made her humiliation more widespread; not only did her hometown look down at her, so did her country. The harsh, judgmental labels such as: little tart, ditzy predatory White House intern or slut were published in national magazines and newspapers. Fox News held a poll asking whether the public thought that Lewinsky was an average girl or a young tramp looking for thrills (Shaming of Monica). Her own lover refused to speak her name and disrespectfully referred to her as that woman. Although the vernacular to describe them is much different, the disrespectful motives are apparently equal.These verbal abuses affected the lifestyle of both Hester and Monica for a short time. In the beginning of The Scarlet Letter, Hester is described as tall, with a figure of perfect elegance on a large scale. She had dark and abundant hair besides being beautiful from regularity of feature and richness of complexion, had the impressiveness belonging to a marked brow and deep black eyes. However, after seven years of punishment she loses her warmth and her beauty is lost behind the physical toll that punishment has caused. She keeps her hair under a cap, all focus is taken away from her identity and placed on the scarlet letter on her bust. Similarly, Monica Lewinskys lifestyle was deeply affected. For a while, Monica struggled to find employment after her affair with President Clinton was publicly discussed. She survived off her own personal start ups and loans from friends and family. For over a decade, she would have interviews and be qualified but would not be hired because of her past (Lewinsky). The ignorance of those who were outside Hesters life choices caused her physical appearance to suffer and those who condemned Monica Lewinsky contributed to her lack of employment. Those who decided to add their hateful voice to either of these womens lives were dramatically hurting their quality of life. Both Hester and Monica endured the verbal persecution every day, and responded with silence. While their response may appear to be the same, their reasons were polar opposites. Hester chose silence because in silence she held onto her power. As Lester Person Jr. writes in his article, Hesters Revenge: The Power of Silence in the Scarlet Letter; Hesters silence, in particular, can be viewed as a strategy, a presence in the text, as well as in the fictional world of the novel that forms the plot and determines the fates of the other characters (it is) the way Hawthorne shifts power among his major characters. (Person) Her silence shows her strength in her independence and in her love for the father of her child. Being silent also began to hinder Chillingworths efforts to blackmail Dimsdale, to a certain extent. On the other hand, Monica Lewinsky chose silence because she felt she could not speak. In her essay titled, Shame and Survival she wrote, Despite a decade of self-imposed silence, I have been periodically resuscitated as part of the national conversation, almost always in connection with the Clintons (Lewinsky 2014). Without speaking, she was rendered powerless over her public narrative because of her tainted image. The use of silence shows a contrast between these two women. For Hester, silence is her biggest asset and a source of empowerment. For Monica, silence proved to be debilitating. Even though these women lived their lives centuries apart, one thing is strikingly similar, the prominent culture of degradation. Both of these women made a choice that made them the centerpiece of onlookers attention. Hester and Monicas personal lives became the drama that those surrounding tuned into each and every day to criticize. As Lewinsky elegantly declared, weve got a compassion deficit, an empathy crisis (Lewinsky 2015). The fictional life of Hester Prynne and the real life of Monica Lewinsky show this idea very clearly. Through the verbal, social and personal persecution; those who did not know these women attempted to destroy their lives and their happiness. Hester and Monica may have been called different names, and their context may be different, but the lack of compassion and kindness is exactly the same. Due to one choice, both Hester and Monica were stripped of dignity and were looked down upon. Strangers decided it was their right to give punishment. These women did not deserve the hatred and disrespect they were served by everyone around them. Hester Prynne and Monica Lewinsky are just two examples of why kindness is always better than judgment.

Works Cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. Pleasantville, NY: Reader's Digest Association, 1984. Print.Lewinsky, Monica. "The Price of Shame." Monica Lewinsky:. TED, n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.Lewinsky, Monica. "Shame and Survival." Vanity Fair. Vanity Fair, 31 May 2014. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.Person, Jr. Leland S. "Hester's Revenge: The Power of Silence in The Scarlet Letter." Nineteenth-Century Literature 43.4 (1989): 465-83. Web.Posner, Richard. "An Affair of State." New York Times. New York Times, n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2015."The Shaming of Monica: Why We Owe Her an Apology." Time. Time, n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.