Abstract
This article provides a critical analysis of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s employment of artistic defiance in The Scarlet Letter. In reading Hester Prynne’s artistic ability and theological dissent as tools of creative resistance, the article claims that Hawthorne uses self-expression to critique Puritan values. When Hester redesigns the symbol of the scarlet letter A that she is forced to wear as a punishment for the sin of committing adultery, the act of sewing becomes a transgressive form of resistance. By examining the way in which she transforms her symbol of shame into an expression of autonomy, I trace the spiritual significance of Hester’s resistance and Hawthorne’s statement of individualism as reflecting the Transcendentalist rhetoric of early nineteenth-century New England. Hester’s ability to transcend institutional authority to create an independent identity, in turn, cultivates an independent relationship with God. Finally, I read Hawthorne’s own parallel creative struggle as author as a metaphor for national independent identity that can be contextualised within the American Renaissance.
Highlights
Set in the Puritan society of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1642, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1850 historical novel The Scarlet Letter follows the persecuted and ostracized Hester Prynne
Hawthorne describes the moment of Hester Prynne’s disgrace in the following passage: the rude market-place of the Puritan settlement, with all the townspeople assembled and levelling their stern regards at Hester Prynne, – yes, at herself, – who stood on the scaffold of the pillory, an infant on her arm, and the letter A, in scarlet, fantastically embroidered with gold-thread, upon her bosom! (50)
I will argue that the employment of artistic defiance in The Scarlet Letter establishes a sense of autonomy and creative agency for Hester
Summary
Creative Agency in The Scarlet Letter Tia Byer FORUM: University of Edinburgh Postgraduate Journal of Culture & the Arts 30 Spring 2020 22/07/2020 Agana-Nsiire Agana. FORUM claims non-exclusive rights to reproduce this article electronically (in full or in part) and to publish this work in any such media current or later developed. Any latter publication shall recognise FORUM as the original publisher
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