Essay On Prynne's Characterization Of Women In The Crowd

The women in the crowd are characterized by the narrator; their character develops when they are compared to the American women of the nineteenth century. Hawthorne begins his direct characterization of the women when he states that the females in the crowd have a “coarser fibre” in them “than in their fair descendants” (9-10). He implies that those of the crowd who are of an earlier century, are much more harsh and firm than the women in later generations. The narrator uses diction like “coarser fibre” to show that the crowd of women are built up “morally, as well as materially” (8) solid and strict rather than soft like the contemporaries of Hawthorne. He credits this change in character to the mothers who have “transmitted to her child …show more content…
As the novel continues and dialogue is present, Hawthorne’s characterization and comparison is further developed. Women in the crowd are judging Prynne and expressing that they believe she should have a harsher punishment. Hawthorne makes sure to include descriptions of each speaker including age. The older women speakers have harsh diction, but when he introduces one young speaker the tone and connotation shifts. In regards to Prynne’s punishment, the young women states in lines 45 to 46, “let her cover the mark as she will, the pang of it will always be in her heart.” The young women’s tone is much gentler and softer rather than the ladies insisting a harsher punishment. This supports the narrators previous description of the women of older generations being harsh and firm than the contemporaries of Hawthorne who developed to be quite the opposite. Altogether, Hawthorne uses his diction in his comparison between women of two different generations to directly characterize the women in the crowd of the beginning of chapter two in The Scarlet