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A Feminist Criticism of Nathaniel Hawthorne&ac

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When approaching a work of literature, one inevitably does so with their personal and cultural biases at hand; the manner in which they receive a text is largely dictated by the group to which they claim membership. Feminist criticism has proven an effective means of interpreting texts with the interests of the marginalized female in mind. The combined efforts of French, American and British feminists have largely contributed to a multifaceted approach to scrutinizing texts; they have observed the inherent flaws of patriarchal language, the need to reexamine the literary canon, and more recently, reconsidered gender politics. While the movement is unified in its desire to act on behalf of the female collective, it must be noted that there are numerous feminisms operating within its folds. Issues of race, geography, sexual orientation and economics make the experiences of one feminist largely disparate from another. “The Scarlet Letter” has been of particular interest to feminist scholars in that it presents a powerful female figure in the midst of an overarching and oppressive male social order. As a text riddled by ambivalence and contradiction, its reading, like Hester’s scarlet badge, is not to be fixed to any one interpretation. While Nathaniel Hawthorne’s narrator strongly identifies with the character of Hester and often criticizes the patriarchs, he is nonetheless guilty of sexual stereotyping. For the purpose of this paper, it will be argued that both the narrator and his heroine exhibit a gender rooted identity crisis in their inability to reconcile their natures with patriarchal social expectations of their times.

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The founding of Puritan societies in the new world was the result of the group’s desire to escape persecution in England and create a religious citadel removed from the contagion of sin. Deemed too fanatical for and critical of English society, the Puritans welcomed the prospect of fashioning a colony on the principles of piety. Ironically, once in a position of authority, the persecuted assumed the role of persecutor, fervently attacking those who deviated from their moral codes of conduct and forms of spiritual worship. Puritan leaders sought to instill in their community a strong sense of faith, austerity and self discipline. Women were particularly oppressed in this inhospitable environment, in that Puritan scriptural interpretation held them accountable for man’s fall from paradise. Given that the Puritan colony was an attempt to recreate this former state, women were seen as a threat to this end; as the daughters of Eve, they were potential temptresses of weak moral fabric. Sadly, it was through the seeds sown by this intolerant discourse that women came to be regarded as the agents of Satan during the witch craze which seized Salem in 1692. It was the belief of Puritan patriarchs that women should be subjected to the will of their husbands, who were charged with the task of presiding over the household as God’s earthly representatives. It was the role of a woman to submit to her husband in all things and produce future male heirs for the devout community. Women occasionally received praise through great endurance and suffering at the hands

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of their husbands. In his writings, Cotton Mather, noted that a woman’s ability to withstand the infidelity and abuse of her mate won her much acclaim from the male
community. It was a belief amongst puritans that the sin of one tainted the community as a whole; it was therefore of civic necessity that such misdeeds be brought to the attention of the community at large. As noted by Hawthorne, “religion and law were almost identical”.
Gender criticism must be considered in the “The Scarlet Letter”, for it enables a feminist reading that is conscious of the means by which both men and women are controlled by the social constraint of gender. Modern scholars have contended that gender and sex, although often mistaken for one in the same, are anything but. Gender, is not biologically based but rather, is constructed through repeated exposure to social institutions and situations. Therefore, the identity crisis which the narrator appears to suffer may be rooted in the patriarchal order’s attempts to define him in terms of rigid, male based gender roles which offer little room for maneuver; in the patriarchal conviction that being male necessitates a set of definable, static traits and social expectations, they have created an atmosphere where conformity is championed above individuality. Such a climate, as noted by the narrator, is not conducive to the indulgences of the individual and it is for this reason that he is incapable of returning home from his public life and retrieving his private one. It is only once he has cast off the shackles of the homosocial power structure that he may hope to rediscover his true
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nature. Thus, by withdrawing from a world in which masculinity has been reduced to a catalogue of predictable behaviours, the narrator is essentially effeminized in the eyes of
his society. Moreover, his contempt for the frivolity of the offices held by the “venerable old gentlemen” of the Custom House, demonstrates his countercultural belief that civic duty is secondary to the pursuits of the individual. Some scholars have gone so far as to claim that the narrator commits a crime similar to Hester’s act of adultery, in that he decidedly embraces art over his obligations to masculine culture; in leaving his post amongst the patriarchs, he like Hester, is publicly disgraced.
The chapter entitled “The Custom House” which acts as a prelude to Hawthorne’s tale, has often been read as of biographical significance to one’s interpretation of “The Scarlet Letter”. It is apparent that Hawthorne’s male narrator closely resembles himself, in that both engaged in the same occupation only to be removed from office by the changing tide of political events. More importantly however, is the strong association with which the narrator establishes between himself and Hester Prynne. Without this section of the novel, the narrator’s identification with Hester’s plight is somewhat lost. Due to the social expectations imposed upon the narrator by the patriarchal body to which he is a member as chief executive officer, he in a sense experiences oppression akin to Hester’s. His desire to write, a pastime regarded as improper by his Puritan ancestors and compatriots, weighs upon his creative faculties; every moment spent in his employment at the Custom House destroys all artistic ability. It is interesting that the Custom House, as a political entity which excludes women, should be so despised by the narrator who

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himself is male. There is a sense of wonder and longing when he states, “This is a sanctuary into which womankind, with her tools of magic, the broom and mop, has very
infrequent access.” It seems as though this evocation of women and magic breaks up the stifling atmosphere created by the Custom House; since the female is strongly linked with nature, which the institutions of patriarchy oppose, it is possible that the narrator sees women as a group who are highly imaginative but repressed like himself. Like Hester, the narrator is bound to his community by his roots; his long spanning ancestry is blemished by acts of persecution. We are told that one such ancestor was so deeply involved in the martyring of witches that “their blood may have left a stain on him”.
Hester experiences a similar identity crisis with regards to the gender expectations imposed upon her by an overtly patriarchal society. Her inner conflict is especially troublesome in that she both accepts the judgments of the puritan tribunal whilst defying the institutions from which they derive their power. “Her psychological traumas largely result from her confused desire to fulfill socially defined obligations while at the same time living on the margins of those obligations” This said, Hester remains in Salem to endure her sentence, yet in many ways subverts the penal codes underlying intentions. We are told that the scarlet letter with its gold thread and masterful embroidery actually enhances her femininity (which given the nature of the crime is highly ironic) and allows her to break sumptuary laws. The narrator insists that it “had the effect of a spell, taking

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her out of ordinary relations with humanity, and inclosing her in a sphere by herself”. According to Shari Benstock’s essay entitled, “The Scarlet Letter (a)doree or the Female Body Embroidered”, she argues that in Hester’s refusal to identify Pearl’s father, she has essentially removed her from the patriarchal authority of men; the absence of Pearl’s father results in her being a child of exclusively female origins. Pearl appears to recognize her unique position when denying that she has a heavenly father. Furthermore, her origins are strongly associated with the defiant female Ann Hutchinson; when asked at the governor’s house who made her she proudly attests to having “not been made at all, but having been plucked by her mother off the bush of wild roses outside the prison door”. Hester’s relocation to the outskirts of the village provides her with a refuge beyond the laws of men; unlike other puritan women, Hester is economically independent from the support of a male while retaining the position as head of her household. Her skills as a seamstress provide her with ample work in a society which condemns extravagant attire but whose patriarchs and men of office often disregard. Like the letter which comes to mean different things to different people, Hester’s punishment actually has the effect of giving her freedoms which other women lack. “The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread”.
Any feminist interpretation of Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter” would be skeptical of the male narrator/author to whom we are indebted for this work. We are told that the narrator feels it is his “filial duty” to reproduce Hester’s experiences through the
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accounts of surveyor Pue. Consequently, the tale is derived from one man to another and inadvertently espouses their prejudices regarding women. While her male lover cannot be identified without her naming him, Hester’s deviance is made manifest through her pregnancy; reproduction being a distinct aspect of the female experience, she has been betrayed by her very body and nature. Puritan men, as agents of civilization, feel it necessary to restrain all natural forces; the female body is controlled through the social constraint of marriage which protects the rights of patriarchy by assigning the female to the domestic sphere where her sexuality is closely monitored. The natural world is likewise controlled through puritan attempts to label all things, such as the meteor in the night’s sky. Given that nature and women are closely linked, the forest offers a sanctuary from the stern penal system of the outer Puritan world; like a womb, it protects its inhabitants from the severe eye of the patriarchs. This said, it is of little wonder that it is regarded as the breeding ground for devilry and witchcraft.
The economics of patriarchy, it seems, play a major role throughout “The Scarlet Letter”; wealth establishes one’s rank and societal treatment while allowing them to sidestep laws which others are subject to. The narrator’s financial concerns are largely responsible for his lengthily stay at the Custom House in pursuit of “Uncle Sam’s gold”. It is only once he relinquishes his post that he may return to his life as a “literary man”. Moreover, in choosing to pursue a writing career, the narrator risks financial instability. Hester’s marriage was not rooted in any love for her husband, but seems rather to have been a means of escaping economic decline; her husband is far older than
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she and possesses a great deal of wealth. The numerous suggestions that Hester is from a noble line which had fallen on hard times likely made the marriage seem a necessity to both herself and her family. As was generally the case in the 17th century, few women were capable of economic self-sufficiency; they were reliant on the patriarchal system of marriage to provide for them. Thus, women were coaxed into making favourable marriage contacts with men of means. It appears as though Chillingworth recognized the absurdity of his union with Hester and it is partially for this reason that his vengeance was not directed towards her. The narrator cunningly uses economics as a device to highlight the hypocrisy of the puritan patriarchy. Hester’s visit to Bellingham’s place of residence is meant to discredit him as a leader of a people who denounce luxury and the material trappings which they left behind in England. “The brilliancy might have befitted Aladdin’s palace, rather than the mansion of a grave old Puritan ruler”. Moreover, we are informed that he has an indentured servant who is no more than a commodity to him. His attire is likened to that of the reign of King James, yet he criticizes Pearl for being guilty of this very fault. “I have never seen anything the like, since my days of vanity in old King James’s time, when I was wont to esteem it a high favor to be admitted to a court mask!”. Pearl is enabled to transcend the stigma of the scarlet letter through the rise of her economic fortunes. This is astonishing given that as the offspring of the illicit union, she was considered the scarlet letter personified. Her ability to rise in Salem’s esteem is only by virtue of her vast inheritance, ironically, a bequest from a man not even

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related to her. This event single handedly elevates her from the status of demonized elf child to a female with promising marriage prospects. “…had the mother and child remained here, little Pearl, at a marriageable period of life, might have mingled her wild blood with the lineage of the devoutest Puritan among them all”.
The gender expectations imposed upon Hester are undermined by her ability to assume the role of matriarch over her domicile. As she must endure the hardships of her sentence, she appears to lose all markers of femininity, save for the ornate letter itself. A “marble coldness” replaces her once blushing cheek and her “dark abundant hair” has been covered by a cap. She has moved from passion and sexual being to stoic intellectual, thus supplanting stereotypically female characteristics with those of masculinity. She has essentially unsexed herself for the sake of maintaining a place within the Puritan collective, which she, like the narrator is incapable of escaping. In wearing the letter, an emblem of feminine frailty, she must suppress her femininity for the sake of altering the symbols meaning. It is only when she has shed the scarlet letter that she regains her femininity in the hidden realm of the forest. Her daughter is incapable of recognizing her without it, in that it has become the most prominent aspect of her identity. Dimmesdale, for his part, is effeminized in contrast with Hester, by his physical and mental anguish. Perhaps his internalization of the truth may liken him to the female, in that she maintains her sex organs in likewise concealed fashion. It seems rather cowardly that he should only recognize his sin when speaking his last words, as if to ensure his admission to heaven. In this respect he is hypocritical like his patriarchal brethren.
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Aside from being a text which presents a sympathetic and powerful heroine, “The Scarlet Letter” is not without the sexual stereotypes and biases of its author whether conscious or not; Hester for example is removed from the role of submissive wife and presides over her own household, and yet her creative endeavors never expand beyond her needlework, a skill traditionally reserved for women occupying the domestic sphere. “She had in her nature a rich, voluptuous, Oriental characteristic,- a taste for the gorgeously beautiful, which, save in the exquisite productions of her needle, found nothing else, in all the possibilities of her life, to exercise itself upon”. Moreover, while the women observing the spectacle of Hester’s public sentencing are for the most part offended by the leniency of the patriarchs, it is she who is oldest and ugliest amongst them who feels the harshest penalty should be administered. This hardly seems a coincidence, given that evil has often been equated with physical deformity and an odious exterior; it is therefore of little surprise that witches have often been depicted as weathered hags. As a beautiful heroine, Hester fulfills the male fantasy imposed upon her by a male novelist. The narrator’s suggestion that Hester is less of a woman due to her shift from the emotional to intellectual also reinforces patriarchal stereotypes which regard the female as an irrational being incapable of thought without passion. It is also of interest that the narrator should conclude that Hester’s sin barred her from being the reformist/activist she might have been; “had she not bore pearl she may have come down to history as Ann Hutchinson- the founder of a religious sect- have been a prophetess-probably would have been martyred for her cause”.
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Issues of gender and their relationship to one’s sex figure prominently throughout “the Scarlet Letter”; it is apparent that both the narrator and his heroine experience an identity crisis in their attempts to be true to their nature in spite of social expectations;
In this vein, “The Scarlet Letter” may be read as a pro-feminist text, yet it remains that Hawthorne’s novel is not devoid of sexual stereotypes which perpetuate negative attitudes towards women.

Posted by chaptersgirl on 2009-11-13 18:58:59 | Rating: