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Before Her Time

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Submitted By rachellevin
Words 1260
Pages 6
The concept of feminism has always been around throughout the course of human history. Indeed, in Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter, the protagonist attempts to subvert the patriarchal society within which she resides. Hawthorne positions Hester Prynne as a proto-feminist, standing for women and their rights in a time where women were looked down upon. To begin, Hawthorne describes the prison and the scene around the scaffold in the center of town. Hester had been imprisoned for having adulterous relations with her Reverend, Arthur Dimmesdale, which led to the creation of a child, Hester's daughter Pearl. The town is waiting to see Hester and watch her as she stands on the scaffold for three hours while the town looks upon her, wearing a scarlet 'A' on her bosom as her punishment. The women of the town discuss the harsher punishments they would have given her, proclaiming that "this woman has brought shame upon us all" and declaring she "ought to die" (Hawthorne 49).When Hester exits the prison and a town beadle offers her help, "she repelled him, by an action marked with natural dignity and own free-will" (49). From the moment she steps out of the prison, Hester displays a free will and determination that will become a large part of her life. Despite the women's hostility towards Hester and the "heavy weight of a thousand unrelenting eyes," (53) Hester stands tall and strong on the scaffold. Her eyes gaze over the town members, and towards the back she notices one person: standing next to an Indian, a white man "clad in a strange disarray of civilized and savage costume" (56). Hester's mind suddenly makes a connection and realizes that this strange man is her husband, Roger Chillingworth, whom she had believed to be dead at see. In actuality, he had been captured by Indians and brought in to the town to be set free. Hester clutches Pearl tightly and

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