something such as forcing a woman to wear a symbolic red A at all times to alert and remind the community of her transgressions. Hester transcends these distinctions however, into a personhood and spirituality that subverts the Cartesian and thus Puritan view of the body and of women. It is her complete rejection of, not only what it is to be a woman of worth in Puritan society, but to be a woman and spiritual being within Christian society that has propelled her from merely being a literary figure to a figure of enduring womanhood. She has created a new standard, a prism through which women can be viewed as either deviant or as transcending their deviance. This standard sits apart from the limited mind-body dualism that established the Madonna/Whore dichotomy and is offered by Hawthorne within along with The Scarlet Letter passage espousing feminist views as an attempt to rectify or atone for his ancestral involvement in the Salem Witch Trials, and more broadly with the gendered judgment and prosecution of women. can be read as at once a rebuttal and act of atonement for the Salem The Scarlet Letter Witch Trials, as Hawthorne felt a strong sense of guilt regarding his involvement with ancestor’s the Trials. In the Hawthorne speaks about his Puritan The Custom House, novels’ introduction, Salem ancestors stating, The figure of that [my] first ancestor, invested by family tradition with a dim and dusky grandeur, was present to my boyish imagination, as far back as I can remember…I know not whether these ancestors of mine bethought themselves to repent, and ask pardon of Heaven for their cruelties; or whether they are now groaning under the heavy consequences of them, in another state of being. At all events, I, the present writer, as their representative, hereby take shame upon myself for their sakes, and pray that any curse incurred by be now and henceforth removed. them…may
something such as forcing a woman to wear a symbolic red A at all times to alert and remind the community of her transgressions. Hester transcends these distinctions however, into a personhood and spirituality that subverts the Cartesian and thus Puritan view of the body and of women. It is her complete rejection of, not only what it is to be a woman of worth in Puritan society, but to be a woman and spiritual being within Christian society that has propelled her from merely being a literary figure to a figure of enduring womanhood. She has created a new standard, a prism through which women can be viewed as either deviant or as transcending their deviance. This standard sits apart from the limited mind-body dualism that established the Madonna/Whore dichotomy and is offered by Hawthorne within The Scarlet Letter along with passage espousing feminist views as an attempt to rectify or atone for his ancestral involvement in the Salem Witch Trials, and more broadly with the gendered judgment and prosecution of women. The Scarlet Letter can be read as at once a rebuttal and act of atonement for the Salem Witch Trials, as Hawthorne felt a strong sense of guilt regarding his ancestor’s involvement with the Trials. In the novels’ introduction, The Custom House, Hawthorne speaks about his Puritan Salem ancestors stating, The figure of that [my] first ancestor, invested by family tradition with a dim and dusky grandeur, was present to my boyish imagination, as far back as I can remember…I know not whether these ancestors of mine bethought themselves to repent, and ask pardon of Heaven for their cruelties; or whether they are now groaning under the heavy consequences of them, in another state of being. At all events, I, the present writer, as their representative, hereby take shame upon myself for their sakes, and pray that any curse incurred by them…may be now and henceforth removed.
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