Scarlet Letter Women In Today's Society

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“No women can call herself free who does not control and own her own body” This quote is by Margaret Sanger. In the book Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne it follows various people during 17th century Massachusetts who live in a Puritan society. The main characters are Pearl, Roger Chillingworth and Arthur Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne. Hester is arguable the most important character because all of the problems come from her sin of adultery. Hester Prynne does not let adversity get in her way and rises above it. Her courageous acts make her a prime example of a strong women in that time.
In the Putians society it is strictly Patriarchal. Women and children were treated harshly in the Puritan commonwealth. Women were seen as a part of Satan and second class citizens. Children were also treated with little respect, they were considered as the property of their parents. The main character shakes the system with her bold and independent demeanor. “While this passed, Hester Prynne had been standing on her pedestal, still with a fixed gaze toward the stranger; so fixed a gaze, that, at moments of intense absorption, all other objects in the visible world seemed to vanish, leaving only him and her”(Hawthorne. 59). This quote explains how hester is holding her own and being strong. She also is …show more content…
She is trying her best to help and reach out to her community. Despite the criticism and humiliation, she still volunteers, has a job and provides for her child. Hester is quoted to aid and help the sick, poor and troubled. Her community service made her a leader and a model throughout her town. Although she is doing well in the town some people still look down on her for her sin of adultery. This quote confirms this speculation "then, she might have come down in history, hand in hand with Ann Hutchinson, as he foundress of a religious sect. She might, in one of her phases, have have been

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