Growing Up In The Puritan Era

In the novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne illustrates the story of a young woman growing up in the Puritan era. The novel exposes the hardships, struggles, and expectations placed on women of this era, and the starring character of this story, Hester Prynne, experiences all three. Hawthorne’s choice to make Hester experience these challenges is to empower women. From being condemned, to providing for her daughter without a father figure, and finally to feeling anguished over the absence of her true lover , Hester Prynne continually grows stronger throughout her lifetime. The NPR interview entitled “Hester Prynne: Sinner, Victim, Object, Winner,” hosted by Jacki Lyden and the scholarly essay, “A Representative of the New Female Image–Analyzing …show more content…
The group discusses Hester’s emergence from the cell, and how one of the first things the author notes about her “is that she is drop dead gorgeous” (Seabrook). Compared to the rest of the women in town, Hester is seen as very “lady-like” and “feminine” (Hawthorne). This was no accident. Hawthorne’s decision to give Hester this feminine-like quality is used to differentiate her from the rest of the women of Boston. Furthermore, the group continues to discuss Hester’s emergence from the cell as it is one of the most iconic scenes in the novel. As she walks out onto the scaffold, Hester is described as “tall, with a figure of perfect elegance, on a large scale. She [has] dark abundant hair, so glossy that it [throws] off the sunshine with a gleam” (Hawthorne 37). Hawthorne’s detailed depiction of Hester’s beauty is one of many characteristics that contribute to her source of influence, and can ultimately be seen as a method of empowerment. Even in modern times, women who have a certain look or characteristic, may have a larger influence over people than women who do …show more content…
With minimal contact with people from the town, Hester starts her own business supplying fine needlework to the people of Boston. The demand for Hester’s needlework continued to grow in the city, in fact, her “needlework was seen on the ruff of the Governor; military men wore it on their scarves, and the minister on his hand; it decked the baby’s little cap; it was shut up, to be mildewed and molded away, in the coffins of the dead” (Hawthorne 57). Her business become so self-sustaining that Hester “does not turn to her lover Dimmesdale or her husband Chillingworth” for financial assistance (Wang). Her lack of need for any man in her life shows how strong an independent a woman can