When We Dead Awaken: Poem Analysis

The Terror and Fascination of Men Feminist Adrienne Rich convincingly argues about society’s view on women in her poem “ When We Dead Awaken: Writing as Re-Vision.” In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne represents several of Rich’s ideas. One of them is that “ Man appears as, if not a dream, a fascination and a terror; and that the source of the fascination and the terror is simply, Man’s power-to dominate, tyrannize, choose or reject the woman.” Hawthorne demonstrates this idea as Chillingworth constantly tyrannizes Hester and becomes her terror. Dimmesdale is Hester’s fascination because he holds power, fame, and has the ability to dominate her. Chillingworth uses his power to extract a promise from Hester and he does this by tyrannizing Hester. In the novel, Chillingworth says “ Breath not the secret, above all, to the man thou wottest of. Should thou fail me in this, beware! His fame, his position, his life, will be in my hands. Beware!,” (53) this tyrannizes Hester because Chillingworth threatens to make Dimmesdale lose his fame, position, and life if Hester reveals his identity to …show more content…
This is shown when Hester says “ Truth was the one virtue which I might have held fast, and did hold fast through all extremity; save thy good,- thy life,- thy fame,- were put in question” (Hawthorne 133). Hester says she saves Dimmesdale because his fame and good are being questioned. She does not talk about how she saves Dimmesdale because she truly loves him. This shows how Hester views Dimmesdale as a fascination because of his power, fame, and ability to control others. This shows Adrienne Rich’s idea of “ The charisma of Man seems to come purely from his power over her and his control of the world by force.” Dimmesdale has a rich reputation in the town, so this allows him to influence the town. This proves the claim that the enthrall of man comes from his ability to