ee Nathaniel Hawthorne and the Feminine Ethos James J. Waite For inanv readers the lure of Romanticism is is Gill t» far away places, to travel and adventure, vicarious. The American romantics, stl te icits Couper, Melville, Thoreau, and Poe conquer the wilderness. sail the high seas, and delve into icep Uhlasins of the human psyche. Even Emerson's brand of Romanticism calls for rugged individu alismand self-reliance. Butone romantic, Nathaniel Hawthorne. never moves far from hearth and home; domesticity and the inter-dependence of man and woman ate the unique domain of this sensitive and nttospective author, Hawthorne's romanticism lies within matters of the heart. His idealism is rooted in his belief that love is the key to progress; his extraordinar: ople and his microscopic observations { humanity lead him to a cognizance of human potential found in nineteenth-century ‘nerican literature, Hawthorne's fictional environs ite mhabited by men and women who are reilections yiharsh reality and, paradoxically, symbols of both ‘Rope ind despair. His characters are in constant Search of AGve ints highest form, love which will someg® unity a world divided after the Fall. His deefiest svinpathies, therefore, are for those whose lives are despeiate- He reaches out to people who have been shunned Jand cast aside in hope that, ultimately. Their Tot will improve, Individuals who 4o not fit society's mores and cannot reach their otential because ofthe ignorance of others are those hom Nathaniel Hawthorne embraces. And within context of human relationships Hawthorne highlights this outcast; she is the ‘male. the victim of masculine egotism and Focance in a male dominated world. Exvthome was Tour years old when his father 1 4 Fionn childhood through adolescence, in the company of his mother, two sisters, ther feansles in the home of his mother's S umelligent, curly-haired boy was % women, vet, at the same time, greatly them, One can only speculate upon Peans loours Young Nathaniel must have spent swud conversing with the bright ladies with whom he was so close and because of his keen interest in people, Hawthorne developed sharp insight into women’s ature and to their unique place in the world. His journals, letters, and ultimately his fiction were to showcase this understanding and exhibit his fascination with women of all ages. Hawthorne's singular concern with women, however, never Himinished his own masculinity. Instead, as noticed by his many contemporaries, in adulthood, his person was a rare mixture of traditional male with female qualities; lie was both psychologically and physiologically androgynous, showing a fullness of character that made him attractive t0 both sexes and established his writings as a chronicle of Progressive thought concerning male-female relationships. Androgyny is the intermingling of male and female characteristics. The concept is as ancient as mythology and as modern as sociology. 1 is one which goes to the heart of any discussion of male and female, from sexual origins to sexual development, to physical to psychological interre- lationships. In recent sociological, psychological, and philosophical thought, androgyny is being considered as a concept which may help toeliminate sexual stereotyping and sexual discrimination. Androgyny is a complex and sometimes controver- sial subject. However, the concept has a direct relationship to the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne. In his fiction, Hawthorne develops traits in his male characters, though traditionally considered feminine, as those which might enhance their masculinity: tenderness, sincerity, the ability 10 understand, nurture, and show emotion. But his men, instead of assenting to these good qualities in themselves, often reject them or cover them with a false pride which hurts their own personality and Tuins their relationship with the opposite sex. Conversely, Hawihorne appeals 10 his readers to consider that women have auributes which ustomarily have been considered as belonging oniy (0 men: quiet strength, the ability to make decisions, ‘0 lead, and to be depended on in times of crises.a Hawthorne's women—Hester, Zenobia, Georgian and by depicting truth, offer men hope for ihe future. However Wey Gea ina Work when ute However, They ext in ch is Aeither capable of knowing their true beauty nor either capable of knowing thei uty 1 ofdealing with it in a mutuaily beneficial manner Hawihorne's males are weak flawed by heir Tears— (weir ignorance. and thei failure act. Their frail Ta¥ to do wih their inability to understand ithe Sulnerable TO Than’s blindness and, consequendiy, to his cruelty. Men such as Aylmer. Chillingworth, Dimmesdale. Giovanni, Hollingsworth, Coverdale and oilers, refuse to admit truths which women Fepresent and. through (escienee>) endeavor. to destroy ‘them. Ironically, however, herein. leg Hawthorne's message of hope. Attempts to desizon wom: take “her stronger and reinforce about her nature Hawthorne, the Consuumiate observer, had seen this pattern a his ‘own lie, in the men and women he knew, Hisinnate etceptiveness concerning human beings gave him snore th comprehension of the tied forthe recognition, on an equal basis, of both ale and female in all people 11 moxt people His observations, Narious. philosophies and wud hiv own sensitivity to all things, brought bien. ahead of his time, woan understanding of the uuirogynous makeup. For this Feson. Nathaniel Hawthorne's women are elevated in his work. He itttempts ta show the world their ue bs dramatically highlighting their intuitive Anowledge. patience, sind strength inorder that their potential be reilived. He envisions a time when hhis tanilianity: with world’s femininity will augment masculinity and make the world a heuer place. An examination of six of Havcthorne’s women: Zenobia and Priscilla af The Blithedale Romance “Rappaicei Dauuhter,”” Georgia The Birthmark,” and Mester and Pearl of The Scarlet Letter will provide Samples ot his vision, The tagedy of Zenobia in The Blithedale cide but ‘omiance 1s not only that she commits slvr that. hal she been discerned, she might hea erature. Hawthorne. whiy 0 tlletively tose ieath_ol-a a well ay the death Soman, This dark, sensual. and brilliant He Te personification of Hawthorne's dilesnma between his idealism and the reality of the crucl world. What she is—a vital force if only her talent were understood and acknowledged is fhe substance of Hawthorne's paradox about a 3464), 5ST, Journal of American Culture woman's place in the world. In Zenohia, 1 deal worlds collide: she offers the men. Caan and Hollingsworth. an opportunity. ta reality and consider life on a higher plane ne not up to the challenge. They fear Zenohye tear her beauty, her sensuality, and her briltmes They teiect her and, insead, choose the ethene wweakewilled Priscilla and the reality of the wen sherepresents—a world incapable of knowing wer 4 world which accepts much less. Hollingsworth and Coverdale, Hang ale ascend, But they moreover, dy ot escape Hawthorne's criticism. Zenobia'scmeyey courage, and strength, her “masculine traty tm ‘sharp contrast 10 their weakness and then cowardice. In fact, only when thes ate bin! nurturing, and sensitive do they appear a their har Fut these moments are few—fleeting chances whe hey do not use for woman's benefit or for thet own. And Zenobia is the victim of theit ignorance Cities have said that she dies of unrecjuited love, but the “love” she needed is not so much a romaneg with Hollingsworth as an acceptance of her tors being. Zenobia uncosers her heart oniy to find in beauty repelled as the buutertly is repelled in Hawthorne's “Artist of the Beautiful,” rejected by those incapable of comprehending its value Zenobia proves herself courageous in the truest sense. She follows what Hawthorne himself hod writen in his earliest years, that “Perhaps the oblest species of courage is in a good cause. to brave the bad opinion of the world.” Hawthorne Knew Zenabia to be right and knew that some day if courage prevails, her prophetic words concerning the status of women and the values of lave would come to fruition, Priscilla is what men have made her. It seems that in a male-dominated environment, women have to makea choice; openly oppose indifference as does OF seem to capitulate and adapt to the environment. ay does Priscilla, Hawthorne presents feminine qualities so weakness. yirlishness, lency. Priscilla. throughout the novel, is a girl, not a woman. She is not only physically lunsubstantial: she also lacks inner strength, She sits at Hollingsworth’s. feet profession that is her Principal.” She makes no denial of the supetiotit¥ of any man nor attempt 10 prove herself wort of her own thoughts or even her own existent. Sheis, in fact, what nineteenth-century man wanted woman to be. And Coverdale’s final, hesitant announcement, “I—I myself—was in love with PRISCILLA," is indicative of man’s capiwulation in the struggle between the real and the ideal. @ Priscilla wi alluring 10 earthly men depen seeming to believe his man acknowledgedaitle which Hawthorne himself fought all of his life. However, when Coverdale meets Hollings worth seats ater Blithedale, he finds a shattered att snd an equally unfulfilled woman. Priscilla onuinues in her role as a model female, ollingsworth’s wife, but she is also his nurse and protector—their shallow and ineffectual lives a jest of an inequitable male-female relationship. and Zenobia is inguage differs his description of each. Priscilla is delicate and helpless and Hawthorne's words almost reach out » support her. “Poor Priscilla,” “a friendless girl," 1 “pale, Lirge-eved little woman” with a “shivering shivering heart.” Men are drawn to protect het. Rut Zenobia is “imperial, . remarkably beautiful fine intellect.” She is looked upon with awe, having an almost untouchable radiance. Hawthorne presents her as the person: fication of the flower she wears in her hair, That flower, the fragrance of which lasts in Coverdale’s meiory long after it has died, is “exotic, of rare he contrast between Priscil comprehensive, Even Hawthorne's body" and at with a more indicative of the pride and pomp which had a luxuriant growth in Zenobia's character than if | had sparkled among her hair.” And yet he flower lives only one day, sheds its light upon the world and then fades away. So. 100, Zenobia, 8 all her glory, gives the world but a short time (enjoy her presence. And all but the most sensitive fail to appreciate her true beauty. It would have jaken more of a man than any of Hawthorne's sctery to live with Zenovia in her ideal world. Hawthorne implies that it would have taken a omplete change in male attitudes toward women, Zenobia Hawthorne clearly elicits legitimate grie man’s 'ndifference, an ignorance which leads to mutual ‘demise, But Zenobia’s soul is one with Hawthorne's she iy that part of his own nature which longs to ‘st oil the superficial world in deference toa greater ha Through neces against falliltment, no mauer what the peril. Zenobia, therelore, is a heroine in the classical sense. She 's 4 proud woman of high station who recognizes her position shortly before her death—a symbol of the hope that, at some better time, woman's lot will improve Priscilla and Zenobia as paternal half-sisters hieity 1 the fortune of Old Moodie. As blood sitery they value one another and feel a itv. But they are also sisters in a broader ‘ise: they share the commonality of the oppressed. They ane both victims of a male-dominated world ict ietuses to accept them for themselves. And oppression differently. Zenobia is seth harndles he strident and scornful and ultimately dies out of 9% frustrations in a world not ready for her. Priscilla lives but will be haunted forever by the shadow of Zenobia—always looking, as it were, for her to be there, prodding her to open her mind and heart {0 the world. But all of her devotion to Zenobia does not give Priscilla the capability of being like her. Priscilla admires Zenobia, but just as the men, she is never cognizant of Zenobia’s real beauty and, therefore, can never ascend to it. The void she {eels at Zenobia’s death is the same emptiness she, herselt, hhas exhibited all her life, Priscilla is a {lawed gem; lovely, but with a transitory attractiveness which hides her real potential as a woman. The cost to Priscilla is the maintenance of a restricted life, one which lacks Zenobia's intuitive and sensitive responses to the world. Zenobia, on the other hand, exhibits the potential of all women, if only they were released from their shackles. So it is that The Blithedale Romance has as Principal characters two women, one quiet and mysterious, the other sensuously beautiful with a propensity for veraciousness and a wit to bite at the conscience of men. In this work Hawthorne exhibits a progressive, liberal and modern attitude toward the promise of the individual and the relationship between the sexes. Through Zenobia, in particular, Hawthorne's vision transcends the temporal world and challenges man to progress to a higher state, one in which humanity is able to rise above peuy differences in order to become unified and complete. In The Blithedale Romance Hawthorne offers man the opportunity to lunderstand and accept that tender part of his nature which he has historically rejected. He presents an alternative which will help both men and women whose lives are controlled by their own ignorance and their need for love. Hawthorne's “The Birthmark” can be read in the context of his introductory paragraph. In it he refers to the sciemtist and his desire for power, his need to understand the forces of nature in order, ultimately, to control them. Accordingly, Haw. thorme questions the scientist Aylmer’s “faith in ‘man’s ultimate control of Nature.” He then cleverly transfers this burning desire within the scientist to Aylmer's need to govern one of nature's finest creations—woman, his wife Georgiana. Ostensi- bly, Aylmer wants to removea small birthmark from. Georgianna’s face. But the implication is as deep as Hawthorne's intense repulsion toward the domination of one person by another. Avimer wishes to control and to repress; and that the person repressed here is a woman is most significant. Hawthorne's statement is made and driven homelly iv this short story. Georgianna, as with most ‘of Hawthorne's datk heroines, is the subject of the ‘we of others, both men and women. The women, envy het beauty and use the birthmark as a means of degradation while the men, fearing her, can only wish (© possess this almost perfect female. Here again Hawthorne captures the masculine fear of 8 beaucitul. intelligent woman. It seems that the only response of the male to this fear is an excessive desire to subjugate the female. Hawthorne writes of Georgiana and Aylmer, Had she been less beautiful he might have felt his afection Seghteed by the retines of shis mimic Randa scing her nherwises peter he ound this one defect grow mt ‘nd more intolerable with every moment of their united ives Aylmer ¢ her, And Georgiana, as befits a hineteenth century woman, is ready to sacrifice herself for her husband. “Danger.” she says, “is nothing to me; for life with this hateful mark makes ane the object of your horror and disgust—life is 3 burden which I would fling down with joy.” His happiness and comfort is foremost to her and to ta thought to her well-being. He will. therefore, be permitted to tamper with what he sees n imperfection in what nature has created. hum—with fe iy interesting that Aylmer's assistan Animadob, wha represents man’s corporeal self, secs hat Avimer, the intellect, can not see, He mutters WE she were my wife. Td never part with that birthmark.” Hawthorne's message is again made Jear—man must accept woman asa vital part of lowing her to live, Aylmer secludes Georgianna away in an apartment. The g the sunshine,” keeps Georgiana nd from life, just as all nineteenth century women were often excluded from society magic circle around her wsith which no evil might intrude.” However, his heed to shelter and control her leads not to her safety but to her destruction, How subtle yet strong is Hawthorne's criticism of the male-dominated world? Once under Aylmer's power, Georgiana never es “uctual life." Each of the pictures he allows hier to view is either pure fancy or life as seen in 4 Portrait or shadow. She begins to speculate, just 4s Hester will do in The Scarlet Letter, nature. But, instead of a room, “excludis from the world He could now “draw Theiagsin. when she feta wish ta ook forth rom her seclusion, tumeiscls, ay her thoughts were answers, the procession f external existence flied across a screen. The scenery and te figutes of ae ife were perfectly represented, but with ‘arbres hine, yet indescribable dilerence which always moter Journal of American Cultus, “Br a8 amaKe oF» Sadow 39 mach mor ate hy, Ie original. frmagination is Georgianna’s only means of expe from her miserable existence. Through fancy ae can momentarily sip away from the cruel wont However, she also values wuth, and (uth i hey {rom her. Nonetheless, her power sill exist sf touches a flower and it withers and dies fom "yn, Powerful stimulus.” This power isthe vert beagy Aylmer cannot manage and, for all his scien Knowledge, does not understand. He is rejusensicy by it “invigorated by her presence.” but at last fai, ‘0 come to a higher cognizance which would him to Georgiana in true love. and by deny her the truth, he denies it to himselt As the story comes o a close, Aylmer gradually begins to understand Georgiana's woman, ‘ature, but itis too late, As she dies she savs, "voy, hhave rejected the best the earth could offer... And Hawthorne, in the truest sense of the Platonic ideq of man’s need for unity inal things, lecturce i ‘Thus ever does the grom fay of earth exalt iis ump over the immoral essence which, in dim sphere of ren development. demands the completeness os higher save ve ‘ad Avimer reached a profounder wisdom, he neato weg have flung away the happiness which would have woven ne ‘marta ile ofthe sesame texture with the celeia, That “profounder wisdom” is one Hawthorne hhimself had also striven to reach and to wanema {0 the world. Man is “half-developed” without ‘women; his nature is incomplete when he denies the feminine part of it In “Rappaccini’s Daughter,” Hawthorne's allegory is a beautiful message about the need for Jove and for cognizance that life's fulfillment will come only after casting aside Narcissisin and admitting the power of another and the interde Pendence of male and female. For it is not just coincidence that Hawthorne inverts the traditional ideas of male as strength and female as weakness in order to make his point. Again, in this story, Hawthorne's males show their weakness in dealing ‘with a woman. Rappaccini, Giovanni and Baglioni are willing to sacrifice Beatrice—Rappaccini in the name of science, Baglioni for professional advancement, and Giovanni through his desire for self-preservation. None of them can give of himsell out of love: only Beatrice, a second Adam, is able t0 do so. In this she compares to Hester Prynne. Her power, most of all, is the power to Tove Bat ‘0 Tier Tather, Beatrice is nothing more than one of the flowers with which he is experimenting “flower and maiden were different and yet the same.Nathaniel Hawthorne and the Feminine Ethos * fraught with some strange peril in either shape. Baglioni fears that, because of her knowledge of be given a position at the university and he uses her to defame Rappaccini. To Giovanni, Beatrice is an enigma; she evinces botlt hope and fear. Beatrice ma Duc 10 hniy weakness, Giovanni does not know Beatrice. “Beauutul shall I call her,” he asks, “or inexpressibly terrible?” Giovanni presages Miles Coxetsile of The Blithedale Romance as he peeps rough his window watching Beatrice in the garden. He will prove himself unable to save her, just as Coverdale cannot save Zenobia. Giovanni knows neither how to handle himself nor Beatrice, she had atleast instilled a Ferce and sublle poison into {ye Its Hot lve, although her rch Beauty wae a madness tol 1 owe. even while he fancied her spi tobe imbued ‘liste sm ane ful essence tha seemed to pervade her psical frame: uta wild offspring of both love and horror that had ca jure stand buraed like one and shivered like the other. And yet Hawthorne puts Giovanni's fulfillment within his reach. Giovanni wishes to snatch “from hier full gaze the mystery which he deemed the riddle And once he meets her, of his own existence. 2 fever cloned in her whole pect and beamed upon Giovanni's nscosness like the light of uth itself. .he seemed gaze tough te braun gis ese sto the eransparent soul, and ene dul ofa {1 seems intentional on Hawthorne's part, however, hat Giovanni has but a brief glimpse of the truth, ve whic lhe ultimately cannot sustain, ver and anon shee gleam acrom the young man’s mind 2 somer that he should be walking side by side with the bring who so wrought upon his imagination, whom he Nad italien such hes of terror. sn whom he had potively Soe lt maniestations of dreadful atiibuter—that be I he vonvering with Beatrice tke a brother, and should Find her wv hunan apd so maiden-ike, Hut such reflections were After accepting and then transcending. their umanity, be and she are one, For Beatrice, 100, "that instant, had forgotten her sex and her poison, anil hal evelled in bliss—unuil she is brought back the ssanbol of her womanhood, the poisoned Snub. “For the first time in my life," she says ‘dressing the shrub, Thad forgouen thee.” The Hivch is juundul reminder of her womanhood and Hawthorne's plea for movement to a better world iy shattered by reality. Her moment "the Light of knowledge, just as was Georgianna’s a7 'n “The Birthmark," is short-lived, And Giovanni's passion for and trust in Beatrice is also short-lived. He wavers between believing in her, accepting her goodness and her womanhood and doubting all including himself. ‘But mow hi spirit was incapable of sustaining itself atthe height 1o which the early enthusiasm of passion had exclied it he felldown. grovelingamong earthy dcsbs, and defiled therewith the pure whiteness of Beatrice’ image. Not that he gave her ‘op bathe eid disirus And Hawthorne criticizes men’s often unfounded fear and silly attitude about women. He resolved to instieue some decisive test that should satiay him, once and for all, whether there were thone dreadful eculiariuies in her physical mature which would not be suppowed ‘0 exist without some corresponding monstrosity of 10 Weak, as so many of Hawthorne's males are, Giovanni cannot raise himself to a higher plane, Just as Aylmer of the ""Birthmark” decides the fate of Georgianna, so Giovanni, rather than love her, attempts to control Beatrice’s destiny. His Narcissism is highlighted, yet scorned by Hawthorne. Before descending into the garden Giovannt failed not to took at his igure in the miror a vanity to be expected ina beautiful young man. yet, 28 displayed ivf atthe woubled and feverish moment, the token of a certain shallowness of character. He id gaze, however, and said vo himseil that hi features had never before possessed 40 much grace nor his eyes such vivacty, nor his cheeks 0 warm a hue of superabundant life. For a moment he casts wruth aside, but he soon realizes what he sees in the mirror, a man incapable of unselfish love. “Then, he shuddered, shuddered at himself. Hawthorne's criticism of man's treaument of ‘women comes toa dramatic conclusion as Giovanni and Beatrice meet for the last time in the garden, He has a final opportunity to accept and embrace the “delicate and benign power of her feminine nature” and the “passionate outgash of her heart" which “had Giovanni known how to estimate them, would have assured him that all this ugly mystery was but an earthly illusion and. that. .the real Beatrice was a heavenly angel.” But again he fails. He scorns her and her love, and, moreover, he rejects, his own power to love. As they stand alone, Hawthorne exhibits their interdependence. They wood a6 it were, in an vite solitude, which would be made none the lst solitary by the dewsest chong of human Jif, Ought not, then, the desert of humanity around them 1028 tes this inuate js lane vette? I they should be ere sume anor, we we hee toe Kin 4 them? ‘Man and woman need one another: each is whole, uly through union with the other. And if man ejects woman, neither he nor she can be fulfilled. ices death results from her recognition has been done to her. Rappaccini’s lation combined with Giovanni's denial of her and Baglione’s interference for his own selfish ends, leads to her destruction, Ironically, only Buglione seems to comprehend what has been done 1s he, 4m tone of Wiumph mixed with hort 4 this the upstiot of your experiment?” Neither Rappaccini nor Giovanni seem to understand the evil they have imposed on Beatrice, And Haw: thorne’s words for Giovanni come from Beatrice herself. "Oh, was there not from the first, e poison in thy nature, than in anin In many of Hawthos and fea exinces alse ps Ws short works, egotism, fof his own rejection by a woman often de in a man, Hawthorne's males sften refuse to adinit weakness or dependency, until {isto late. Theit failure to accept woman's counsel and love causes their own isolation, This is Havwthome’s unique and modern point of view sssard the physical and psychological interdepend- sce -of many sand woman, His characters. ate in constant seatel for themselves as well as for one snwthier and only in briel moments do they find shaleness through unity, The physical and the poschological exploration for self in cael sex can only diycoser tullilliment through acceptance of the spposite in themselves, Herein lies Hawthorne's sage tor mankind The Scarlet Letter genet ally is accepted a Nathaniel Hawthorne's greatest literary ment. svonk which tellects his concerns asan artist nietimes ambiguously, evinces his Pevn said, albeit s unl iow. fis heroine, Heste Havethonue’s personal anc mle ie real anid the ideal She iy the Prolawonist ina romance which reveals this ‘Tilers wy the work a Tlester Pronne, a Woman of personal strength und indomitable character, exemplifies those (quailities so admired by Hawthorne: independence, iutelligenee, physical strength, rare beauty and inner courage, yet she also personifies the doubts bout veality which constantly haunt-the man, himself. Hawthorne presents Hester as an ideal, but his picture is clouded by his own personal doubt that man is capable of bringing the ideal to reality Nonetheless, Hawthome’s doubt is just that— doubt, Hawthorne is not one who despairsand deep. Journal of American Culture within his cloud of doubt lies a lining of hope for the future. However, it is precisely this vacillation between doubt and hope which makes Hawthorne ‘a modern thinker; in the very traditional Victorian era, he dares to consider new possibilities particularly concerning those in whom he has such interest—women. His hopes for and doubts about the future of women are evinced in his beautiful portrait of Hester Prynne. Hawthorne is bold in his creation of She fs ama sea oT he time ethane he seventeenth-century setting of The Scarlet ‘De Ahe nimeteenth-century ofits publication. Hester presage afi age in which women will take their ich wor Fightful_place_next_tman. For beneath the ‘eemigh ote aecrpaance oleae Hee aT functions: she imellectuatizes the injustice of her situation and comes to know that mov the ideal will begin only when the individual tens « deep reflection, speculation which will bring true Knowledge of self_and eventual commitment change. Hester evolves as the thinking woman men aFe not ready to accept, yet_must fespect. The beautiful Hester_is_androgenous;_swong_an independent, yet Toving and nururant, someone who is not afraid tadepend s-yetcan depend spon hergelt ar ae From the outset, Hawthome develops wa distinct relationships for Hester. one with men and the other with women. Each is examined through Hester's perspective concerning others and through theie view of her, The attitudes of the men show very little movement throughout the piece Revetend Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth, in particular, ate never quite able o accept Hester with the same totality as do the women: t in fact, destroved by their own rigidity in retusing Today. Through Hester, Hawthorne again challenges man’s ability to know the female: sadly both Dimmesdale and Chillingworth fail the west The women, however, move {rom distant critics 10 Hester's ardent disciples, seeking her wisdom and nsel about their wretched situations. As Hester grows and changes, the women also grow and change: they learn irom her. Moreover. thes Come ‘o have hope that things will ulumatche get beter They_move to an assurance that their fate iT improve. Hester, (00, who earlier had been fil oa “firm belief” in_a “brigher_period” ‘womanhood. _ ~ Hester's qualities are evider beginning of the work. She repels the beadle “bY action marked with natural dignity and force of from theCulture ‘Mkivion iittitieg has sueh beautiful A Hester, that time let Leter m. Hester ake their wath the ersmind ee of her atte the oring true oeat, The ong. and andepend ren and 4 through {thiol ness pe Hester they are 1 ielusing vale T the test sdom and As Hester ya ste wall ce led 1 Hawthorne and the Feminine Ethos Here independent woman. Her originality 1s precisely is an impulsive, passionate, ‘what sets her apart, but the community does not understand the value of her unique character: So Hawshome begins to establish his message: in his Spetial_insighis, Hawthorne immediately” “Hake her vulnerable 0 the masses who do not poNoS her qualities, Sometimes before her cslibinion-on the scaffold, “it was a circumstance ve. thatthe women, of whom there were in the crowd, appeared to take particular imevst in whatever penal infliction might be expected 10 ensue.” The old maidens rail against Hester: they scorn her, they wish to brand her fonehead with a hot iron. Only a young woman, holding a child by the hand, comes to Hester's delense axainst their gibes, empathizing with her, inuuitively knowing her suffering both asa woman and ay a mother. Of the scarlet A she says, "let over the matk as she will, the pang of it will alwavs be in her heart.” Thus the young woman, becomes one with Hester and accordingly moves ‘DproIec her vulnerable heart agains cruel Veality Hawthorne thus foreshadows what will come later ‘with the particular malevolence which society hai wih particulay nce which society has” Thrall women, sinners oF not. As Hester emerges alone from the prison door, Hawthorne immediately sets a challenge for her. Torn. sh his unattended walk ftom her prison dor began 8 cust id she ma ether eary Hwa by the ues of hee nate. snk beneath ic And Hawthorne, throughout The Scarlet Letter, makes it clear that those “ordinary resources of her nature will be her salvation and that she, through, will come to recognize and use those not disrupt, her own being or society in general, Her capacity to love, combined with the emerging recognition of her own faculties #1 woman, will ultimately provide strength, not only to survive but also to become a model for other sien to follow, In so doing, Hawthorne's Hester Will take on the role of an artist: her wisdom and. “unple wil break new groundand help lead others sullering, resources 10 unify Hal ignorance, Woman's power as a source of unification is ‘ancient idea. In many of his works, Hawthorne ty an ability which heascribes © women alone, the art of needlework. In The Seurler Letter, Hester’s only means of support in shore, as is limited her lonely conuge is her needle. H Kitin_comments on society's habia portunities for women when he says that wes 3S a means of income was “then, as now. the + “one within a woman's grasp.” Bur he lever This aria praise of womaN’s capacity to ut Needlework becomes for Hester her link bac societyand thesymbol of her ultimate reunion it Italo provides Hawthorne ‘ith multé-ta symbolism. Hester embroiders the scarlet le sshich unifies he ier sins bu the letter aso her deal with that sin, She embroidersclothine the community, which links people o her as = 2s to each other, for “her handiwork became Nagi would now be termed the fashion.” She also wea vibrant _dresses_for Pearl, which connects Me ibrant_dresses_for_Pearl, which connects / Gaughter's wild nai ith ‘Therefore, as embroidery ts Hester's un) With_sin_and atonement, her attachment to “Goaienanity and alnay oh her anager anid incor gbiliy—by te end lth siya sing at unification “Tle commaniy, coperalis Ae women, come to her for counselling, her daugtwe is seed and prosperous and er ais wo ger 2 ttiges, bot muhera symbol of her evecome pane TB ah comer, doce xe. come witht struggie. Initially Hester is banished by the restof mankind, Her individualism, her passionate ra and her courage, a8 much as ber adultery, cavegntlcs Inall her intercourse with society, however, there was noth shat made her fea if she belonged tt, Every geste. e. ‘word, and even the silence of those she came in conti aiid often expresed that she was banished, and as uch a 26 if she inhabited another sphere. or communicated. x ‘common nate other organs ad senses than the st of he kind Not only Hawthorne's personal and artis dilemma. but also his progressive thought are he expressed in Hester's predicament. Hester sto. apart from moral interests yet close behind the like a ghost that visits the familiar fireside and no longer make itself seen or felt." Hawthorne oft wars that those who step outside the norm ti great suifering and possible destruction. They a inexorably connected to humanity. Therefor separation, even when forced, will never be comple severance. Their suffering, however, can bring the new insight and help them learn more abo themselves in relation to others. So itis with Heste Walking wand fo with those lonely foosteps inthe lle wor with which she wat outwardly connected, it now and th appeared 19 Hester—i altogether faney, it wat neverieleNs 30 ‘00 poten tobe resisted —she elt or fancied, then that the calet letter had endowed her witha new serue She shuddered believe, Yet could not help believing, that it gave her a sympathetic ‘knowledge ofthe hidden sin in other hears ‘This “sympathetic knowledge" was no more vividly revealed than in her own relationships with other Again a mystic sisterhood would comtumaciously aser itself 2s she met the sanctified frown of some matron, who according 10 the rumor of all ongues, had kept cold snow within her Bdorom throughout life. That unsunned show in the mavrow's bosom and the burning shame on Hester Prynne's—what had the two in common? or once more, the eletie thrill would five her warning "Behold, Hester, here isa companion.”— and, looking up, she would detect the eyes of @ youn maiden glancing a ‘wih a fain, chill crimson in her ebeeks. a8 if her parity were somewhat sullied by that momentary glance he scarlet lever, syly and aside, and quickly averted Hester continues the process of learning her special destiny as a woman: thus the development of Hester's legacy—the “mystic sisterhood” with the young maidens, perhaps the same maiden who had defended her near the scaffold, is an evolving bond among those who are neglected by society and who ‘must establish their own “language” in order that society accept them for their worth, Hawthorne's vision for women is perpetuated in anoy Hesters daughter Pearl. Pearl the next generation, created in the same Tol as Hester herself. She fas “s--a wait of passion, the certain depth of hue which she never lost, and if im any of her changes she has grown fainter oF paler, it would have no longer been Pearl.” She 4 the result of sin which Hawthorne does not condone. However, it is significant for Hawthorne chat Hester never repents her sin, For the product of that sin is Pearl, “the human embodiment of he scarlet letter," in whom Hawthorne. is fascinated. He calls her “the brightest litte jet of flame that ever danced upon the earth” and he takes pains to describe her intelligence, her beauty and her passionate nature. He does not condemn Pearl or her wild nature: he simply points to the agony oF the spirit which has this nature and to the difficuity Pearl will face in the world. Even Hester iS afraid of thisas “day after day, she looked fearfully into the child's expanding nature, ever dreading ‘dec some dark and wild peculisriy a should correspond with the guiltiness to which she ot attempt to stifle Pearl but takes the wiser course of guiding her and letting her mature on her own, For Pearl is the new outcast, “the outcast of the Journal of American Culture fantile_world," "myiic sisterhood,"7] lother and daughter sod together in the sine ine op clusion from human society: and in the nature ose ed seemed o be perpetuated those unquiet elements iat had ea begun be soe anay by aegis mw] These are Hawthorne's women, outcast by their independent spirit and, moreover, outcast by their sex. But neither Pearl nor Hester is destroyed in The Scarlet Letter, rather their indomitable sprig find their place and look forward 10 a “brighves period” for all women. In contrast to Hester and Pearl, Hawthorne presents his male characters, Arthur Dimmesdals “and Roger Ghillingwasth. These men are ay ‘cowardly as the women are brave, as dependent as the women are independent, as weak as the womei “Hre3irong. as homely as the women are akthough all are imlligent, the me intelligence for deceit and perniciousness while the women _use theirs beneficence. And, as the story progresses, each characteristic intensifics: the men become uglier, weaker and more dependent, cowardly and pernicious as the women grow more beautiful, brave, strong and independent. Moreover, in the end the men are destroyed whi a es whl TT Hawthorne introduces Arthur Dimmesdale as a young minister with “an apprehensive, a started, @ frightened look—as of a being who felt himself quite astray and at a loss in the pathway of human existence. .."" And later, at the governor's mansion, "...the young minister at once came forward, pale and holding his hand over his heart, as was his custom whenever his peculiarly nervous tempera- ment was thrown into agitation.” This is in contrast to Hester's “figure of perfect elegance on a iarge seale...characterized by a certain state and dignity...and indescribable grace.” It may be noted, too, how “her beauty shone out and made a halo of misfortune” while Roger Chillingworth’s “elderly, travel-worn’” personage could only find strength throu if not guilty The secrets kept within the hearts of Hester, Roger and Arthur weigh heavily on each. However. neither Roger nor Arthur is able to withstand the Pressure of his own hypocrisy—each is tortured by it, The hypocrisy is compounded by the position each man holds in the community—Dimmesdale a revered preacher and Chillingworth, a respected doctor. With each man’s situation Hawthorne make pa his Fo bel the: ides ind ind Hav vulr resus Hay Pryr Mor roe with cont sepaure he tol ata nile Lange snd be male find Nathan; | Hawthorne and the Feminine Ethos denying one’s true nature in order to survive in the world, Chillingworth, an intelligent, sehotarly, liberal rinker sly loves learning, berates himself for having “given my best years to feed the dream ol knowledge. ” Some years earlier he denied what he was by marrying a very young Hester, even oul he knew the marriage would not work. Now he 1s turning his intelligence and his biwerness about what life has done to him against Hester and Dimmesdale. This is surprising behavior for aman who obvi \vhom even Dimmesdale found to have "...a range nd freedom of ideas..." Yet, by outward appearance be lives an exemplary life: in fact, he 's considered no less than miraculous. Some “very sensible” people think “'...that heaven had sought an absolute miracle by transporting an Doctor of Physics from a German University bodily through the air and setting him down at the door of Mr. Dimmesdale’s study.” Gould _not_this learned _genuleman_have_accepted hhunvell for what he is and have used his experience ‘and Knowledge for good rather than evil? Is Sictim of his own guilt about himself \ithur Dimmesdale is afraid 10 admit to his pasuonate nature. This is due, in part at least. to sis ned to maintain his position in the community. For example, he worries so, when he makes his vigil the whole town will awaken, He also lives on the seaffold, that and huiry forth to find me here! his outward life to maintain his post beloved spiritual leader and the same mythic hero, nthe eves of the community, as Roger Chilling- that two worth, Hawthorne's irony, moreover, men who work so hard for approbation from the community ultimately destroy themselves through, their own hypocrisy and denial of their own identity. Society, ultimately, will not save an individual who will not be true to himself. By contrast, again, Hester succeeds, not necessarily by society's standards, but by the higher value of individual self-respect. and peace of mind. Hawthorne's message comes through—the risk of bility is worth the inner peace whi ~~ Iu_his diapter, “Another View of Hester Hawthorne clases his point of view toward Hester fy ia ee ceactiia ane ben cr Salud of Achur DeES Moreover 31 is nerves semed absolutely destroyed. 1118 moral force ws shased into more of childlike weaknes. It grovlled helpless vn the round, even while his intelletual Lelie tained thee Drstne stengih, oF had pethaps acquired a morbid ener, which disease oniy would have give them Arthur knew his disgrace before God and feared disgrace before man. So he appealed to Hester, “the ‘outcast woman for support against his instinctive- ly discovered enemy.” That enemy, more than anything, was himself. But he did not turn to God, nor society for subsistence. Rather, he relied on one in whom he saw great quality—a woman. Hester had been transformed by the years of her sullering and Hawthorne says that... species of general regard had ultimately grown up in reference to Hester Prynne.”" Over the years, Hester had travelled into the deepest chasms of her heart and soul. She had sought true knowledge, she had come to know her identity in relation to mankind and “she was quick to acknowledge her sisterhood with the race of man.” She also had come to know that only through an individual's quiet, humble resistance to injustice could the world be changed. For “the public is despotic in temper; it is capable of denying common justice when too strenuously demanded as a right....” Hester had developed an inner strength and “so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman's strength,” that she had become a model of perfection. Individuals slowly began to change their minds about Hester and the scarlet Tew ‘was not relegating her 10 a ‘pedestal, but rather polishing his vision of the ‘potendial in all women. Quiet, heroic individualism ‘Tiad,with Hawthorne's approval, now been assimilated into Hester's person, Much of the marble coldness of Hester's impression was w be seributed tothe circurmsances that her life had tard, in gent ‘measure (om pasion and feeling © thought, Sting alone tm the world—alone, and hopeless of retieving her position, ‘vem had she nt scorned o conker it esirable—she cai aay the fragment of a broken chain. The world’s law was no law for her mind. Iwas an age in which the human iuellet,newiy ‘mancipated, had taken a more ative and a wider range than For many centuries belo. ‘These are most progressive words, particularly in an age when only a few women were even educated much less encouraged to be free thinkers. Yet the individual, thinking female is precisely whom Hawthorne is praising in the person of Hester Prynne, He writes, Men of the sword had overhtown nobles and kgs. fen b than these hud overthyown and tearranged—net actualy, but thin the sphere a dhcory, which ws their most ral abodehe whole system of ancient prejudice, wherewith was linked ‘much of ancient principle. Hester Prynne imbibed this spirit. She assumes a teeedom of speculation, then common enough on the other sie the Atlantic. bit which ou forefathers the Known i, would have held tobe a deadlier erime than at sigmateed by the earl lve. But Hawthorne's warning about one who transgresses through speculation was still there. ln her lonesome coutage bythe seashore, thoughts visited her, island: shadowy Ml have been a8 prelous a8 demons to their rtentanie,coukl they have ben 0 much as hocking at het And Hawthorne's doubts still there Inne, the same dath question often roe sm Ber mind wih reternce tthe whole race of womantinad. Was existence worth keepuing, eve to dhe happiest among then? As concerned her individual existence she hal long agocecided in the negative A diamived the pont a8 settled. A tendency 10 speculation, ih Ht may Keeps woman quiet. a6 4 does man, yet makes 1 salmahe dhwerns st may be, uch a hopeless tsk belre However, Hawthorne's hope is also in evidence. Asa fist sep, the whole system of society bs 10 be torn dome ated built up anew. Then, the very natute of the opposite sex. 1s long tereditary habit which has become like nature, is be casentally modified before woman can be allowed woassume Stat Soest be Lat and suitable positon, NY Linaty at oc ditties being obviated, woman cannot ake Ce aaa aaa) advantage of these p have undergone 2 sill mightier change: in which, perhaps, the fahereal essence, wherein she has her trust Ife, will be found Je evaporated. A woman never overcomes thee problems They are not to be solved. oF only Hus ester Prone, wwe heart had lstts egularand bealthy the + heat chance (cate uppermost they vanish Io, wamieeed without 3 clue wt he datk labyrin ssi by at ansuttnonuntable precipice; mow em. Fee was wild Se wine and conor nowhere Fowever, he is going even further, He is describing ovement out of the sphere of reality to a higher jew have risen, In this Sphere sex is not primary: the mind is foremost, Unified and the shackles of reality broken. Hawthorne is complimenting woman by faletictad ausstestesrercovaleratrha eetirising i beliet that she 1s as capable as man of rising this plane. Further, he is asking w asa “Tistsiep w Trendom, seek a beue heir Tine jo which only a Journal of American Culture imagination. Yes, Hawthorne argues, break the Ghain-Of wretched existence and “cast away the fragments"—commit the strength of your mind as well as your body to your becoming a model for thers to follow. This is what Hester docs. ‘One does not come to a higher state without suffering. At first Hester considers suicide and murder. “At times, fearful doubt strove 10 possess her soul, whether it were not better to send Pear! at once to Heaven, and go herself to such futurity as Eternal Justice should provide.” But instead she turns to higher resolve. And the immediate recipients of Hester's commitment are a male Arthur Dimmesdale, and a female, Pearl. For Pearl and because she now has to assist a broken Dimmesdale, Hester would "zedeem her error” and resist Roger Chillingworth and the Puritan mores. The minister and the physician cease to struggle and continue their degeneration.x"The old man, on the other hand. had brought himself nearer to her level. or perhaps below it, by the revenge which he had stooped for.” But Hester, “strengthened by years of hard and solemn trial...climbed her way. ..toa higher point.” This, chen, isthe turning point of the romance. Both men from this point fon begin to see Hester Tor what she might have ‘been they had only changed their attitudes toward” her__Chillingworth_sa¥s, “Thou hadst great elements. Peradventure, hadst thou met earl 4 beuter_Tove than mine, the evil had noi beet pity Tor the good that has been wasted in thy natu And Dimmesdale, inthe forest meeting, realizes her strength and pleads to her, “Think for me...Re- solve for me...Be thou strong for me. Advise me what to do.” But Hester also depends on love and a strength which, unfortunately, Arthur is unable to exhibit. The interdependence of both sexes is obvious in the forest scene Once Hester is finished with Chillingworth, she turns to Pearl. “Pearl, Little Pearl, where are you?" She is there, waiting for her mother, seeking her wisdom, And Hester as a mother and a woman. knows her daughter. But now the idea came strongly inwo Hester's mind that Par with her emarhable precocity and acuteness, might alicud B® oached the age when she could have made a (iend, aad Inurusted with as much ofa mother's sort a could be pate without ireverence either to dhe paren or the child In she Lisle chaos of Pear’ character. there might be seen emersing—and could have been, from the very List—the steadast principles ge—an uncontrollable will—a study oiten unflinching cou de, which might be disciplined ino selreypect—aa! 3 biter corn of many things, whi taint of falsehood in them. She posted sein acrid and disageeable 25 ae en examined, igNathaniel Hawthorne and the Feminine Ethos flowers of untipe lew, With ll shes serting auributes, thought Hew, the evil which she inherited from her mouher must be fea indeed. 2 noble woman doesnot grow out ofthis lish And so not only mothethood but also that “mystic sisterhood” binds Hester and Pearl. Hester's legacy to her daughter, her friend, her “sister and all women, is that message Hawthorne had written in the Artist of the Beautiful" hus is that ideas, which grow up within the imagination sind appear wo lovely to it and ofa value beyond whatever men, ‘all Calusble, are exposed to be shattered and annihilated by comet with the practical. 1 ita requisite forthe ideal artist tw pines fone of character that semis hardly compatible with the smust Keep his faith in himself while the inreuliny world assils him with is uterdisbeie, he must stand up against mankind and be his own sole diviple, both * rected. eet 2 Hepes Is genius and the objects to which itis Pearl becomes “the richest heiress of the day in the New World,” not only through Chillingworth's bequeath! of property but also through Hester's legacy of love and knowledge which assures all womanhood, | ot het fn belief that. at some brighter period when the world ould have grown ripe for it, ia Heaven's oven time, 2 new ruth would be sevealed in order to entablish the whole ‘elaionhip between men and women on a surer ground of Nathaniel Hawthorne was a man complete in. his feelings, a gentle scholar who observed a rugged world in an explosive age. He understood the tender part of nature and the need for sensitivity in order for man to survive in an often evil world. But he iso knew the vulnerability of the heart and those ho expose it, The women of Hawthorne's fiction show both sensitivity and vulnerability, the same 33 qualities exhibited in the man himself. Nonetheless, they evince the surength of love and the courage, Luxnen, to use it for the benefit Their strength isin their nay lowever. their power lies dormant ‘unless it is discerned and allowed to flourish through unity with men. Hawthorne's females women and. consequently, of all mankind. Works Cited Bem, Sandra Lipsitz. “Psychological Androgyny.” Beyond ‘Sex Roles Ed. Alice G. Sargent. Washington D.C: LC 1972, Brenzo, Richard. “Beatrice Rappaccini: A Victim of the Male Loveand Horror," American Literature 48 (1976): 152. 164 Colgrave, Sukie. The Spirit of the Velley: The Masculine and Feminine in Human Consciouiness. Washington DC: LE. 1979 Hoekje, Herbert. Inward Sky: The Mind and Heert of Nathaniel Hawthorne, North Carolina: Duke Up, 1962 " Kaplan, Alexander and Beam, Joan P. edi Beyond Sex Role Stereotypes: Readings Towerd A Prychology of Androgyny. Massachusetts UP, 1976. _ Mallow, James R. Nathaniel Hewthome end His Times. Boston: Mifflin, 1980 Smith, Alan Gardner, Lloyd. Eve Tempted: Writing and Sexuality in Hawthorne's Fiction. New Jersey, Barnes, 1984 Smith, Julian. “Why Does Zenobia Kill HerselP." English Language Notes 6 (1964): 37-38, Waggoner, Hyatt H. The Presence of Hawthome. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 1979. Young, Philip. Hawthorne's Secret: An Untold Tale, Boston: Godine, 1984 James J. Wate is2 Consultamt with Education/Communication Kings Park, N.¥