In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne criticizes the stubborn and reserved nature of the Puritan society by portraying the story of Hester Prynne, who has an affair with the most reputable clergyman Arthur Dimmesdale despite the fact that she is already married to Roger Chillingworth; and together they have a daughter, Pearl. Finally, Hester takes one step forward after seven years of torture from the public, their consciences and diminishing of health (for Dimmesdale), this couple finally unites under the shadow of the forest, and decides to flee from this land full of sorrow. To encourage Dimmesdale to move forward, Hester takes off her scarlet letter and her hat, and for a moment, it seems like her long-gone beauty is coming back to
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Having to bear the scarlet letter on her bosom for life, Hester definitely doesn’t fit into the role, she is lucky to even just survive in the society. Her cap and the scarlet letter itself symbolize her “evil deed”, and the deed “invests itself with the character of doom” (207), whereas her hair and beauty, in contrast, reveals her true self. Thus, whenever she confines her hair underneath the cap, she becomes humble and quiet, completely different than the way she makes her first appearance in the book—confident and full of pride; the cap puts her uniqueness away but still couldn’t save her from her sin and make her the perfect woman. Along with Hester’s innate personal characteristics, the cap takes away Hester’s liveliness. Throughout the book, Hawthorne uses sunshine as a symbol of joy and hope because of its brightness and richness of color; it appears when positive energy flows through a character. Nevertheless, the cap casts a spell on her, causes the sunshine to fade away so that “a gray shadow [falls] across her” (207). By comparing the cap to a spell, Hawthorne suggests that Hester would not be able to overcome this transformation and although she behaves like a typical Puritan …show more content…
This idea of the empowerment of women is not rare in the deep ocean of world literature; it can be seen in “The Ballad of Mulan”, written back in the 5th or 6th century. In the ballad, a girl named Mulan is worried because her father’s name appears in the drafting paper issued by the Khan. Given that her father was pretty old and she has no grown-up brothers, Mulan decides to take her father’s place in the army. It’s needless to mention that this action is prohibited in the traditional value of Chinese people; they too, believe that women should be staying at home, and focusing on taking care of the entire family. In order for Mulan to actually get drafted in the government, she has to give up her womanly physical and mental feature, similar to the way Hester gives up her beauty by confine her hair underneath her cap. After years of fighting, Mulan returns home safely. When she puts on the clothes she used to wear before she becomes a soldier, no one could believe that the Mulan they know is actually a girl. The idea behind this is very much alike to the ending of the scarlet letter, where the tale of the letter becomes a legend and Hester is recognized as strong
Having to bear the scarlet letter on her bosom for life, Hester definitely doesn’t fit into the role, she is lucky to even just survive in the society. Her cap and the scarlet letter itself symbolize her “evil deed”, and the deed “invests itself with the character of doom” (207), whereas her hair and beauty, in contrast, reveals her true self. Thus, whenever she confines her hair underneath the cap, she becomes humble and quiet, completely different than the way she makes her first appearance in the book—confident and full of pride; the cap puts her uniqueness away but still couldn’t save her from her sin and make her the perfect woman. Along with Hester’s innate personal characteristics, the cap takes away Hester’s liveliness. Throughout the book, Hawthorne uses sunshine as a symbol of joy and hope because of its brightness and richness of color; it appears when positive energy flows through a character. Nevertheless, the cap casts a spell on her, causes the sunshine to fade away so that “a gray shadow [falls] across her” (207). By comparing the cap to a spell, Hawthorne suggests that Hester would not be able to overcome this transformation and although she behaves like a typical Puritan …show more content…
This idea of the empowerment of women is not rare in the deep ocean of world literature; it can be seen in “The Ballad of Mulan”, written back in the 5th or 6th century. In the ballad, a girl named Mulan is worried because her father’s name appears in the drafting paper issued by the Khan. Given that her father was pretty old and she has no grown-up brothers, Mulan decides to take her father’s place in the army. It’s needless to mention that this action is prohibited in the traditional value of Chinese people; they too, believe that women should be staying at home, and focusing on taking care of the entire family. In order for Mulan to actually get drafted in the government, she has to give up her womanly physical and mental feature, similar to the way Hester gives up her beauty by confine her hair underneath her cap. After years of fighting, Mulan returns home safely. When she puts on the clothes she used to wear before she becomes a soldier, no one could believe that the Mulan they know is actually a girl. The idea behind this is very much alike to the ending of the scarlet letter, where the tale of the letter becomes a legend and Hester is recognized as strong