Hawthorne's references to Women. Using "The Scarlet Letter" as an example, this essay explores how Hawthorne portrays and presents women in his novels.
The quintessence of classic American literature is Nathaniel Hawthorne. The quintessences of Nathaniel Hawthorne's classics are his anti-transcendentalist views. However, there is a subtler view of this author, especially portrayed in The Scarlet Letter, which is also characterized. This is his portrayal of women and femininity. He portrays women as essential, good contributors to society, and a wonderful being.
Hawthorne has always presented the few good women of his books as beautiful and tall. Hester Prynne is an example of this. "The young woman was tall, with a figure of perfect elegance on a large scale being beautiful from regularity of feature and richness of complexion (Pg 51)." Hester is always directly portrayed in a positive way, none of her negatives are ever written in the book. However, not all women of the novel are presented this way. Many of the women beneath the scaffold where Hester first stood upon were portrayed as ugly, old and harsh; but this is only because Hawthorne wanted to characterize his characters based upon their gentility. Hawthorne does this to men also - the men beneath the scaffold were also portrayed as ugly and harsh. Hawthorne never wrote about male gentility, or the wonders of being in manhood - he only wrote about female gentility and its wonders.
In the days of the novel, women were supposedly good for only bearing children, and taking care of the family. It was very uncommon and frowned upon for women to do anything else. Hawthorne's novels had women more than just care-takers of the family. In the case of Hester, she was a great contributor to her society. She was very charitable, giving away many of her fine embroidery. She was not a delicate female who obeyed all men, as women were expected to do in those days. She was a true individual with her own goals, being independent of everybody else. She was scorned and disgraced by her society. Unlike men and other women of the time, she accepted this and did not fear the
Hawthorne has always presented the few good women of his books as beautiful and tall. Hester Prynne is an example of this. "The young woman was tall, with a figure of perfect elegance on a large scale being beautiful from regularity of feature and richness of complexion (Pg 51)." Hester is always directly portrayed in a positive way, none of her negatives are ever written in the book. However, not all women of the novel are presented this way. Many of the women beneath the scaffold where Hester first stood upon were portrayed as ugly, old and harsh; but this is only because Hawthorne wanted to characterize his characters based upon their gentility. Hawthorne does this to men also - the men beneath the scaffold were also portrayed as ugly and harsh. Hawthorne never wrote about male gentility, or the wonders of being in manhood - he only wrote about female gentility and its wonders.
In the days of the novel, women were supposedly good for only bearing children, and taking care of the family. It was very uncommon and frowned upon for women to do anything else. Hawthorne's novels had women more than just care-takers of the family. In the case of Hester, she was a great contributor to her society. She was very charitable, giving away many of her fine embroidery. She was not a delicate female who obeyed all men, as women were expected to do in those days. She was a true individual with her own goals, being independent of everybody else. She was scorned and disgraced by her society. Unlike men and other women of the time, she accepted this and did not fear the