Punishment in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s the Scarlet Letter

Abstract

Author Nathaniel Hawthorne is well-known for his novel The Scarlet Letter, which was first published in the nineteenth century and is set in mid-seventeenth-century New England Boston Puritan society in the United States. Hester Prynne, the book’s protagonist, and the male and female characters that surround her Arthur Dimmesdale, Roger Chilling worth, Pearl, Clergymen, and others are at the centre of the narrative. In the discipline of feminist studies, the portrayal of female characters in literature is a vital topic. Feminist critics have harshly criticized the long-standing, traditional patriarchal methods of depicting women characters as patriarchal, and they are not good practices. Hester’s transgression and the resulting penalty, accordingly this study has taken into account her self-development, independence from male partners, ups and downs in the patriarchal society, and exclusion from social circles. The representation of female characters in this essay has been interpreted as a protest against the patriarchal customs that are still in place. Because the author has a position of patriarchal power, the feminist analysis of the author’s portrayal of Hester Prynne and Pearl views it as a protest against established customs.