Male domination was a perfect description of Nathaniel Hawthorne's, author of The Scarlet Letter, time era. Women were thought of as lesser than men. Women's purpose was to raise children and give them good morals and values. Women didn't have jobs or hold political office. Even though women were oppressed in Hawthorne's time, in an earlier era, the Puritan era, women were even more subdued. They wore the plainest, drabbest clothes and sat meekly at their husbands' sides. Passion and happiness were considered a sin to the Puritan faith. Hawthorne was a rare man who believed that women should be allowed to rise above this stereotype. He believed that in many ways women were stronger and had greater character than most men. Hester Prynne was
