Scarlet Letter Gender Roles

In the scarlet letter, the main character, Hester Prynne, both excepts and rejects traditional gender roles for her culture. This is evident throughout the whole book as she rejects the typical stereotype of women of this day in time, while she also follows along with it as well. Also in this book it is obvious of another character who is less of what the typical man should be. Therefore making Hester Prynne a powerful symbol of strength for women by not completely conforming to the typical role that women often played during this point in time in the puritan society.

Hester Prynne first shows a break in gender roles in not necessarily a good way, however it often happens in today's society. This objection to traditional roles occurs when she has an affair with a man (Arthur Dimmesdale) even though she is currently married, this results in her pregnancy with her child Pearl. This breaks traditional gender roles because back in this time, and still to this day, women are supposed to be pure and untouched. However this is a good rule for both genders, and is awful for both to do so, but this marks her first occurrence with going around gender roles.
Back in this time women were suppose to conform and give in when asked a question and men were considered to be superior over the women. Hester proved this wrong as she is brought onto the scaffold in front of the entire community and put on trial for her behavior but however refuses to give the judge and the crowd what they wanted. She admitted to her crime and did not show shame but she also doesn't expose her affair with Arthur Dimmesdale and chooses to let him reveal his self if he chooses to "man-up". By displaying her resilience in front of the whole community she is able to put a stake in the gender role and make not only herself as an individual look stronger but also put strength in