Hester Prynne is a Heroine
It is widely debated among those who study early American literature whether Hester Prynne, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s ex-adulteress protagonist, is the first fictional heroine in popular American literature or if she even deserves the title of heroine to begin with. To accurately determine her status as "heroic," one must first become familiar with the definition of the word. Merriam-Webster Dictionary describes a heroine as:
1. A woman noted for courage and daring action.
2. A woman noted for special achievement in a particular field.
3. The principal female character in a novel, poem, or dramatic presentation.
The first piece of criteria is obvious throughout the novel. From the very moment we meet Hester in chapter 2 “The Market Place,” we already are astounded by her courage. Townspeople, chiefly women, gathered at the grass plot in front of the jail to watch the adulteress emerge, and Hester must know this. What else did Puritans have to do? Dancing would get them hanged for witchcraft. Making other peoples’ business their business was evidently the fad of the time. As she steps out of the prison with an armful of baby, the guards try to lead her out, but she has none of it. Instead, she proudly steps into the light, exposing her radiant beauty that seemed to have become even more so radiant hidden away in the prison and a richly-colored, embroidered letter “A” affixed to her bosom. Her entrance—or exit, rather—is rather grand for a woman sentenced to a lifetime of public humiliation: “And never had Hester Prynne appeared more lady-like, in the antique interpretation of the term, than as she issued from the prison. Those who had before known her, and had expected to behold her dimmed and obscured by a disastrous cloud, were astonished, and even startled, to perceive how her beauty shone out, and made a halo of the misfortune and ignominy in which she was enveloped”(61). As she heads towards the scaffold where she must receive further punishment, she hears the murmurs of the crowd and: “with a burning blush, and yet a haughty smile, and a glance that would not be abashed, looked around at her townspeople and neighbors”(60). From the moment she is introduced, Hester already shows amazing courage, and does so continuously throughout the rest of the novel. As for her “daring action,” let’s forget about her affair with Dimmesdale for a moment and appreciate her other daring moments. In chapter 3 “The Recognition,” on page 75, she—a woman!—defies the governor and Reverend Wilson by not disclosing the identity of Pearl’s father. She holds fast to this resolve up until the very end, never fulfilling her “duty” to the people as a sinner by giving them what they want, which is in this case, the other third of the cuckoldry.
The second portion of the definition refers to success or achievement in a particular field. In chapter 5 “Hester at Her Needle,” we find out how she independently supports Pearl and herself—not an easy task for women at the time. Referencing back to the remarks of critical onlookers towards the intricacy of her scarlet letter in chapter 2, Hester becomes a seamstress for the town, providing beautiful, ornate garments despite Puritan opinions against such. Hawthorne describes her achievement in the area of soft production as such: “She had in her nature a rich, voluptuous, Oriental characteristic— a taste for the gorgeously beautiful, which, save in the exquisite productions of her needle, found nothing else, in all the possibilities of her life, to exercise itself upon”(87).
As for the third criteria, it should be obvious to any reader than Hester is not only the principle female character, but also the main character altogether. The novel follows a young single mother supporting her baby and living her life outside of the shadow of guilt others try to push on her. Hester Prynne, the woman who faced hatred and hypocrisy and spit in its great eye, the woman who lived her life as a free agent in Puritan society exempt from self-entitiled patriarchal figures and social norms, fills all three definitions, so it is clear that Hester Prynne is a heroine. Is she a feminist icon? Perhaps in her own right she is, despite Hawthorne’s unnecessarily sexist remarks towards her (such as my all-time favorite: “Women derive a pleasure, incomprehensible to the other sex, from the delicate toil of the needle”(87). But as a whole, Hester is a remarkably strong-willed, strongly-written heroine that was extremely uncommon in the 19th century, especially coming from a male author.
1. A woman noted for courage and daring action.
2. A woman noted for special achievement in a particular field.
3. The principal female character in a novel, poem, or dramatic presentation.
The first piece of criteria is obvious throughout the novel. From the very moment we meet Hester in chapter 2 “The Market Place,” we already are astounded by her courage. Townspeople, chiefly women, gathered at the grass plot in front of the jail to watch the adulteress emerge, and Hester must know this. What else did Puritans have to do? Dancing would get them hanged for witchcraft. Making other peoples’ business their business was evidently the fad of the time. As she steps out of the prison with an armful of baby, the guards try to lead her out, but she has none of it. Instead, she proudly steps into the light, exposing her radiant beauty that seemed to have become even more so radiant hidden away in the prison and a richly-colored, embroidered letter “A” affixed to her bosom. Her entrance—or exit, rather—is rather grand for a woman sentenced to a lifetime of public humiliation: “And never had Hester Prynne appeared more lady-like, in the antique interpretation of the term, than as she issued from the prison. Those who had before known her, and had expected to behold her dimmed and obscured by a disastrous cloud, were astonished, and even startled, to perceive how her beauty shone out, and made a halo of the misfortune and ignominy in which she was enveloped”(61). As she heads towards the scaffold where she must receive further punishment, she hears the murmurs of the crowd and: “with a burning blush, and yet a haughty smile, and a glance that would not be abashed, looked around at her townspeople and neighbors”(60). From the moment she is introduced, Hester already shows amazing courage, and does so continuously throughout the rest of the novel. As for her “daring action,” let’s forget about her affair with Dimmesdale for a moment and appreciate her other daring moments. In chapter 3 “The Recognition,” on page 75, she—a woman!—defies the governor and Reverend Wilson by not disclosing the identity of Pearl’s father. She holds fast to this resolve up until the very end, never fulfilling her “duty” to the people as a sinner by giving them what they want, which is in this case, the other third of the cuckoldry.
The second portion of the definition refers to success or achievement in a particular field. In chapter 5 “Hester at Her Needle,” we find out how she independently supports Pearl and herself—not an easy task for women at the time. Referencing back to the remarks of critical onlookers towards the intricacy of her scarlet letter in chapter 2, Hester becomes a seamstress for the town, providing beautiful, ornate garments despite Puritan opinions against such. Hawthorne describes her achievement in the area of soft production as such: “She had in her nature a rich, voluptuous, Oriental characteristic— a taste for the gorgeously beautiful, which, save in the exquisite productions of her needle, found nothing else, in all the possibilities of her life, to exercise itself upon”(87).
As for the third criteria, it should be obvious to any reader than Hester is not only the principle female character, but also the main character altogether. The novel follows a young single mother supporting her baby and living her life outside of the shadow of guilt others try to push on her. Hester Prynne, the woman who faced hatred and hypocrisy and spit in its great eye, the woman who lived her life as a free agent in Puritan society exempt from self-entitiled patriarchal figures and social norms, fills all three definitions, so it is clear that Hester Prynne is a heroine. Is she a feminist icon? Perhaps in her own right she is, despite Hawthorne’s unnecessarily sexist remarks towards her (such as my all-time favorite: “Women derive a pleasure, incomprehensible to the other sex, from the delicate toil of the needle”(87). But as a whole, Hester is a remarkably strong-willed, strongly-written heroine that was extremely uncommon in the 19th century, especially coming from a male author.