Women Shedding Stigmas: Chapters 16-19

While reading chapters 16-19, I could not help but feel a twinge of excitement when Hester conveyed a burst of strength. I think that the moment when she shed the Scarlet Letter from her clothing in the woods with Dimmesdale was the most significant moment in the entire novel, especially in terms of Hester's growth:

 "'Let us not look back,' answered Hester Prynne. 'The past is gone! Wherefore should we linger upon it now? See! With this symbol, I undo it all, and make it as it had never been!'



      So speaking, she undid the clasp that fastened the scarlet letter, and, taking it from her bosom, threw it to a distance among the withered leaves. The mystic token alighted on the hither verge of the stream. With a hand's-breadth farther flight it would have fallen into the water, and have given the little brook another woe to carry onward, besides the unintelligible tale which it still kept murmuring about. But there lay the embroidered letter, glittering like a lost jewel, which some ill-fated wanderer might pick up, and thenceforth be haunted by strange phantoms of guilt, sinkings of the heart, and unaccountable misfortune.

     The stigma gone, Hester heaved a long, deep sigh, in which the burden of shame and anguish departed from her spirit. Oh, exquisite relief! She had not known the weight, until she felt the freedom!" (Hawthorne 182)

 

Hawthorne's harsh description of the effects of the letter pertain to so many other stigmas in literature, pop culture, and the lives of anyone suffering from a stigma.

 

Surprisingly enough, the first connection that popped into my head was to The Awakening by Kate Chopin. It's hard to believe that these two books connect in more ways than being old and boring! After I pictured the brave act of Hester throwing her Scarlet Letter to the ground, I immediately remembered the defiant act of Edna Pontillier throwing off her wedding ring. This ring symbolized a stigma for Edna because she was tied down in her marriage, and shedding the ring from her finger allowed her to feel free from her undesirably societal role as a rich Victorian housewife and mother. The Scarlet Letter and Edna's wedding ring were both stigmas that symbolized a world of hurt and strife for these women, and getting rid of them symbolized utmost freedom. However, this sense of freedom was extremely short-lived in both cases. Before she knew it, Hester was stripped of freedom and had to re-adorn herself with the dreadful crimson letter, for her own daughter did not recognize her without it. This letter defined Hester, and inevitably, "As if there were a withering spell in the sad letter, her beauty, the warmth and richness of her womanhood, departed, like fading sunshine; and a gray shadow seemed to fall across her" (Hawthorne 190). Similarly, Edna did not survive long with her newfound freedom. She soon realized she needed a man to lean on, and could not be the independent woman the thought she could be when she threw that wedding ring. This eventually leads to her suicide, which leaves me predicting the worst for Hester as well.

 



A more modern day and relatable connection I made was to Nicholas Sparks' character Katie in his novel Safe Haven, which was later made into a movie. Although this novel is a love story read mostly by teenage girls like me, the main character is a woman that carries around the stigma of an abusive husband. The Scarlet Letter is Hester's abuser in this novel, and the painful life she leads because of the Scarlet Letter is similar to that of Katie in Safe Haven or any woman that suffers from abuse.

 

In Safe Haven, Katie is unable to escape her husband; he is constantly in her shadow and will not let her out of his sight. Even with a change in identity and a move across the country, he still finds her and tortures her. When she first leaves him, she feels liberated, but much like Hester and Edna, this is a short-lived sentiment. 

 

Katie's husband Kevin, "Always apologized, and sometimes he would even cry because of the bruises he'd made on her arms or legs or her back. He would say that he hated what he'd done, but in the next breath tell her she'd deserved it," (Sparks 23) Although the Scarlet Letter is an inanimate object, it's very similar to the concept of an abusive husband like Kevin. At some points in the novel, Hester had a decent relationship with the letter, like when it symbolized Able, but then in the very next moment, she would feel its burning wrath all over again. This constant shift between a content and destructive relationship can be seen in both stories. The Letter's continuity and failure to leave Hester alone resembles the characteristics of Kevin in Safe Haven in that he would not let Katie escape the shackles he had on her.

 

 

On the bright side, Katie does escape her dreadful stigma, unlike Edna Pontillier. If The Scarlet Letter continues to parallel Safe Haven, Hester may be able to escape her biting stigma.