Similarities Between The Scarlet Letter And The Awakening

Who wore it better? The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Awakening by Kate Chopin both strongly embody the way women were treated before women’s rights became less restricted to cooking, cleaning, and parenting. Hester Prynne and Edna Pontellier are both upper class women that cheated on their husbands. Although their situations were distinctly different, they relate to each other in several ways. Hester in the seventeenth-century and Edna in the nineteenth are great examples of the good and bad consequences of doing what you desire or what you think is right. These two women seem to have a lot in common, like how they feel towards their lovers; however, they differ in their feelings towards their children and they both have
different repercussions due to their decisions. The second most important character in both of these novels is the “other” man, or men, in Edna’s case. Hester Prynne’s man is a highly revered man by the name of Dimmesdale. The identity of Hester’s lover is not immediately revealed to the reader. He is slowly revealed by small details. Hester is knowingly in love with Dimmesdale, but she keeps that to herself. The town never really discovers that he is the other man until the end and even then it is still unclear. They exchange last words to each other before Dimmesdale dies and Hester begs, “[s]hall we not spend our life together? Surely, surely we have ransomed one other...” (Hawthorne 269). After her desperate pleading for them to be together, Dimmesdale announces that he is too tired to go on and he dies. Edna Pontellier had two other men in her life. The one she was in love with was Robert LeBrun and the lesser was Alcee Arobin. When Robert has gone away for a while, along with Edna’s husband, Edna finds another object to “take care of her”. Alcee Arobin is a polite and handsome ladies man. Alcee Arobin meant “absolutely nothing to her” (Chopin 78). His purpose is to fill the empty space Robert creates when he suddenly leaves Edna, with no explanation as to why. Robert was someone whom wanted her for so long and could not have her; then, when he was finally able to be with her, he realized that she was not what he wanted. He broke Edna’s heart. At the moment of their first sexual embrace “she put her hand up to his face and pressed his cheek against her own”, this action is described as “full of love and tenderness” (Chopin 108). Robert and Edna go back and forth between one liking the other, and they never agreeing on the nature of their relationship. He was the one thing she so long desired to have and not getting him seems to push her over the edge. Neither of these men were present throughout the women’s struggle, whether it be physically or emotionally. Most girls dream of becoming mothers and raising their children.
For Hester and Edna, that dream did not exactly go as well as they had hoped. Hester gets pregnant during her love affair with Dimmesdale, which alerts everyone to their affair, or the fact that she had one. Hester’s husband has not been around to give her a child. Hester has a baby girl named Pearl, that she loves and cares for very much. At one point, Hester is threatened to have Pearl taken away from her. Hester demands, “[l]ook thou to it! I will not lose the child! Look to it!” (Hawthorne 116). She argues that, who better to teach a child about sin, than someone who once committed it. She also states that if she lost Pearl, she would have “willingly gone with thee into the forest” and signed her name in “the Black Man’s book” with her own blood (Hawthorne 119). Pearl is Hester’s saving grace, being one of the only good things she gains from the situation. The way Edna feels about her children is drastically different from Hester. Edna has two boys, and she has a lot of trouble connecting with them as her own. Edna pays no attention to her children, because she does not feel close to them. Even her oblivious husband notices her “habitual neglect of the children” and says, “[i]f it was not a mother 's place to look after children, whose on earth was it?" (Chopin 5). This refers back to the role of women in society. It was understood that they would care for the children. Mr. Pontellier does not consider
Edna to be a good mother, because she is simply disinterested in the children. She leaves it to the quadroon nurse to care for them. The children present during these affairs both play different roles depending on the situation. The biggest difference throughout both of these novels is the impact it has on the women.
Hester’s affair was during the time bible was the law, and what she did was a bit taboo in the church’s eyes. One bad decision changes her entire life. Her husband being away for a long period of time obviously made her feel lonely, and she needed someone to fulfill womanly her needs. Instead, she ended up with a baby and a big, red “A” on her chest for seven years. She lives on the outskirts of Boston with Pearl, and she is ostracized by everyone in town. She makes a living by sewing, because she is very talented in her work. However, “it is not recorded that, in a single instance, her skill was called in aid to embroider the white veil which was to cover pure blushes of bride” (Hawthorne 83). Virgin brides were not allowed to wear veil’s made by her because of her sinful acts, it would be considered shameful. Although Hester had to face many problems due to her sinful actions, she wore the “A” out in the open and wore her sin with confidence. She was said to look beautiful when she walked out of the prison. When Hester is made to stand on the scaffold alone for three hours, she does it with grace and acceptance. She accepts what she did and the consequences that come along with it. Whereas Hester has many unavoidable obstacles caused by her sin, Edna does not face much ridicule by society. Since this novel takes place in the nineteenth century, punishment by law will not be a
consequence of adultery, especially if no one finds out. However, throughout her affairs, Edna begins to lose herself. She becomes dull and loses her vibrantly colored personality. She is personified as a “bird with a broken wing” that is “beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling, disabled down, down to the water” (Chopin 116). When Robert leaves her with, “Goodby” she loses herself completely. She swims far out into the ocean and dies. The affairs are not the only thing that pushed her to commit suicide, but they definitely helped to make it happen. The consequences, good or bad, of something that is considered “wrong” always have a major impact on the lives of the people involved. Sins are things that can not be undone, but they can be forgiven. However, they will never be forgotten. Hester and Edna had to live with their sins, no matter how long they lived after them, causing them many hardships. No matter how different these women’s stories are, they both felt stuck in something they could not get out of, because of the way society viewed women during their times. All women have one thing in common: they constantly need to feel loved and appreciated. The absence of that can cause many problems for both of these women.

Works Cited
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. Washington: Pocket, 1994. Print.