Feminism in “The Scarlet Letter”.

Name :- Neelamba R Sarvaiya.

M. A. Sem-3

Paper no-9 “The American Literature”.

S.B.Gardi English departmentM.K. Bhavnagar University.

Year-2013-2014

The Scarlet Letter first edition:- 1850Author:- Nathaniel HawthorneGenre :- Romantic, HistoricalPublisher:- Ticknor, Reed & FieldsPublication date :-1850

• 'The Scarlet Letter' is a feminist novel

• It represents the strength and independence of the female species.

• Hester, through her struggles with ignominy and isolation, best demonstrates the resilience in women, and their ability to persevere even when at their lowest states of debasement.

• Hester raises a child, manages financially, and keeps her dignity high even when her spirit has been crushed.

•Pearl and Hester represent dignified, courageous women who did not need or desire a man to provide them with the necessities of life.

•The determination and independence in both these characters basically defines the word "Feminism".

•In other words, they contribute to the theme of feminism in the Novel by symbolizing the strength of Woman

A substantial part of the argument in the reading focused on the idea of Hester remaining “resolutely outside patriarchal conventions”.The basic idea of Hester gaining power through her rejection of this expected ideal is an interesting theory with a lot of evidence to support it in the actual novel.

“standing alone in the world…and

hopeless of retrieving her position…she cast away the fragments of a

broken chain. The world’s law was no law for her mind.”

Hester’s power, then, comes simply from her existence – She has rejected of the role of femininity by twice failing to live up to its standards (1. original sin, 2. twisting punishment to showcase her strength instead of her weakness like they wanted).

The wild-natured strength that is created within Hester, the source of which lies in the rejection of patriarchal law, and therefore inaccessable by men or even women living within this law, is the new kind of femininity that Hester (and later Pearl) come to represent.

Thank

u……..