Gender Stereotypes In The Scarlet Letter, By Nathaniel Hawthorne

The stereotypes applied to seventeenth century women were not just stereotypes, they were realities. Women in that period were expected to stay home and do all the cooking, cleaning, and caring for their family. They were entirely dependent on their male counterparts for all their tasks outside the domestic sphere. Women were generally considered intelligent and an educated women was nearly unheard of. Women were generally suppressed in early societies. Nineteenth century Romantic writer Nathaniel Hawthorne saw these stereotypical gender roles beginning to shift in his time. Although set in the seventeenth century, he used his novel, The Scarlet Letter, to portray his idea of changing gender roles. The female protagonist of the novel, Hester Prynne, possesses many traits and engages in many activities that would conflict with the gender stereotypes of the time. …show more content…
She is an intellectual woman who has the freedom of speculation that allows her to take on a more active and independent role because her thoughts are her own, not those she adopted from the males of her society. Hawthorne makes her entirely independent from men, something that was very rare in this time. She even makes enough income to sustain both herself and her daughter. Finally, she serves as a figure of strength in her puritan community. She inspires others to transcend the boundaries that have been placed on them by the sexist male leaders of their society. Hester was a model feminist for her time. Her independence and intelligence combined with her rebellious spirit created a female with individuality, a trait women had previously lacked that had previously lacked. She defied the status quo by dramatically altering the position of women in society. If all females in this time were able to generate their own individuality, they would have been able to achieve the same independence and respect as the men in their