In "The Scarlet Letter" written in 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne develops Hester Prynne, a character who accepts and rejects normal gender roles as a woman in the 1800's. By doing this, Hester opposes and supports patriarchal ideology. Patriarchal ideology is the oppression of women by men to help benefit the men. When Hester switches the idea of patriarchal ideology it helps show that women can hold the positions that men do, and those actions help eradicate the entire idea that women are less than men.
There are many examples of Hester supporting the idea that women cannot hold the power and positions that men do because they aren't as smart or talented. Although this idea isn't true many men of this time period believed this with all their …show more content…
The first example of Hester switching things up comes when Hester is being shamed in the middle of the town and she is on the scaffold. Instead of taking this humiliation like a "women" she accepts who she is and is not ashamed of what the townspeople think of her."to perceive how her beauty shone out, and made a halo of the misfortune and ignominy in which she was enveloped” (Hawthorne 111). Hester shows the townspeople how much of a "woman" she is by not letting the judgement cast upon her get under her skin. This quote basically says when she was being shamed she showed that even after committing adultery she can take reticule just like any man. The second quote isn't really a quote, it's more like how strong Hester is throughout the entire novel by raising Pearl basically alone. Hester shows incredible strength by raising Pearl all alone as a poor, shamed women in the 1800's. Although Dimmesdale did help Hester sometimes he was not that there when it really counted. By raising a baby by herself at the same time she was being shamed by the entire time and not losing her mind or taking it out on Pearl. It is extremely hard to raise a child by yourself in this day and age so raising a child alone in 1850 takes more strength and duration than any man who knew Hester could dream of display. …show more content…
It is great to see that even in 1850 women were trying to break barriers by showing how strong they
There are many examples of Hester supporting the idea that women cannot hold the power and positions that men do because they aren't as smart or talented. Although this idea isn't true many men of this time period believed this with all their …show more content…
The first example of Hester switching things up comes when Hester is being shamed in the middle of the town and she is on the scaffold. Instead of taking this humiliation like a "women" she accepts who she is and is not ashamed of what the townspeople think of her."to perceive how her beauty shone out, and made a halo of the misfortune and ignominy in which she was enveloped” (Hawthorne 111). Hester shows the townspeople how much of a "woman" she is by not letting the judgement cast upon her get under her skin. This quote basically says when she was being shamed she showed that even after committing adultery she can take reticule just like any man. The second quote isn't really a quote, it's more like how strong Hester is throughout the entire novel by raising Pearl basically alone. Hester shows incredible strength by raising Pearl all alone as a poor, shamed women in the 1800's. Although Dimmesdale did help Hester sometimes he was not that there when it really counted. By raising a baby by herself at the same time she was being shamed by the entire time and not losing her mind or taking it out on Pearl. It is extremely hard to raise a child by yourself in this day and age so raising a child alone in 1850 takes more strength and duration than any man who knew Hester could dream of display. …show more content…
It is great to see that even in 1850 women were trying to break barriers by showing how strong they