Female Empowerment In The Scarlet Letter
“One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.” -- Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex
As de Beauvoir developed her argument, she managed to sum up the history in which women were mistreated in numerous facets of private and social life. Yet passing through the Age of Enlightenment, industrialization, and outbreak of extreme warfare, the rights movement against gender discrimination gradually arose. Along with female empowerment came the development of writing as a profession for women during the eighteenth century as means of gaining economic independence. In such Romantic literary works, the authors portrayed sarcasm on women’s judicial representation within domestic environments, and the social recognition of female status.
In Pride and Prejudice, …show more content…
In the first scaffold scene the protagonist Hester Prynne is physically displayed as a tall young woman with a “figure of perfect elegance on a large scale.” (50) Her regular features give her a stunning face and impressively, her “dark and abundant hair threw off the sunshine with a gleam.” (50) Hester’s appearance after several years of punishment for her commission of adultery contrasts these physical appeals. Influenced by the public humiliation that denounces her as a “malefactress” (48) and “the general symbol at which the preacher and moralist might point,” (71) Hester is burdened with overwhelming guilt in her isolated life within the authoritative society. As an act of atonement, Hester covers her hair with a cap, and her beauty and warmth are buried under the elaborate scarlet letter on her bosom. While Hester is deserved to be an outcast for her “evil doings,” (57) the male sinner, who in fact is disclosed to be Reverend Dimmesdale, hides behind his deeds and suffer in silence but none of the criticisms are made on him. Hawthorne utilizes Dimmesdale in providing the flaw within the Puritan authority figure along with the issues with gender roles. Dimmesdale submits to sins with Hester when he should be aiding her to the right path and therefore embodies a satirized male religious figure. Moreover, the Puritan faith viewed male to be superior to females. Even if the rude acts of Reverend Dimmesdale had been exposed to the public, his level of blame and penalization might have been lesser than that of Hester’s, lowering the place where women stand in the conservative
As de Beauvoir developed her argument, she managed to sum up the history in which women were mistreated in numerous facets of private and social life. Yet passing through the Age of Enlightenment, industrialization, and outbreak of extreme warfare, the rights movement against gender discrimination gradually arose. Along with female empowerment came the development of writing as a profession for women during the eighteenth century as means of gaining economic independence. In such Romantic literary works, the authors portrayed sarcasm on women’s judicial representation within domestic environments, and the social recognition of female status.
In Pride and Prejudice, …show more content…
In the first scaffold scene the protagonist Hester Prynne is physically displayed as a tall young woman with a “figure of perfect elegance on a large scale.” (50) Her regular features give her a stunning face and impressively, her “dark and abundant hair threw off the sunshine with a gleam.” (50) Hester’s appearance after several years of punishment for her commission of adultery contrasts these physical appeals. Influenced by the public humiliation that denounces her as a “malefactress” (48) and “the general symbol at which the preacher and moralist might point,” (71) Hester is burdened with overwhelming guilt in her isolated life within the authoritative society. As an act of atonement, Hester covers her hair with a cap, and her beauty and warmth are buried under the elaborate scarlet letter on her bosom. While Hester is deserved to be an outcast for her “evil doings,” (57) the male sinner, who in fact is disclosed to be Reverend Dimmesdale, hides behind his deeds and suffer in silence but none of the criticisms are made on him. Hawthorne utilizes Dimmesdale in providing the flaw within the Puritan authority figure along with the issues with gender roles. Dimmesdale submits to sins with Hester when he should be aiding her to the right path and therefore embodies a satirized male religious figure. Moreover, the Puritan faith viewed male to be superior to females. Even if the rude acts of Reverend Dimmesdale had been exposed to the public, his level of blame and penalization might have been lesser than that of Hester’s, lowering the place where women stand in the conservative