Hawthorne as Hester - Embracing a Feminist Nature: A TheoryHester Prynne remains a living force of feminist force as she stands between the literary arguments of intentions Hawthorne's possibilities of portraying his protagonist as either a central figure of feminist women's empowerment, retrospectively to interpretations of his views on feminism of the time, or a woman oppressed by her sins under tyranny of Puritan injustice. While some argue for Hester's feminist virtues without deeper introspection of her literary creator, much could be understood about Hester's feminine presence by speculating that Hawthorne wrote Hester as the female version of himself trapped in the injustices of a patriarchal world. There is no doubt that by considering the possibility of Hawthorne in the role of Hester, literary critics have already made a compelling argument for Hester's heroic feminism. Through a brief analysis of Hawthorne's role as Hester in The Scarlet Letter, the ambiguity is transformed into a multi-dimensional portrayal of a strong intellectual struggling against the opposing forces created by and resisted by the injustices of a patriarchal society. the unique and powerfully effective tactic. of silence. In order to erase any doubt regarding Hawthorne's intentions in creating Hester as a strong feminist character – the feminized Hawthorne – it is crucial to pay close attention to the autobiographical nature of Custom House and the symbolism of what Pearl represents to Hawthorne as Hester's Child. Hawthorne, nurtured by his mother, deprived of a father and blessed with the heart of a true writer, entered a male world with within him opposing forces of gender riots....... middle of paper ... ...consistent with Hawthorne's intentions. “Hawthorne may have aligned himself with the rebellious girls – the “scribble women” (he calls himself a “scribbler” at the end of the Custom House sketch) – rather than the male novelists of his time” ( Last 353). Rather, it may be that his complaints are actually related to the frustration of trying to succeed with his own writing, as he himself identified as a "scribbler." Works Cited Doubleday, Neal Frank. “Hester and Hawthorne Feminism.” PMLA 54.3 (1939): 825-28. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The scarlet letter. New York: Bantam, 2003. Last, Suzan. "Hawthorne's Female Voices: Reading 'The Scarlet Letter' as a Woman." The Journal of Narrative Technique. 27.3 (1997): 349-76.Jr, Leland S. Person. "Hester's Revenge: The Power of Silence in The Scarlet Letter." » 19th century literature. 43.4 (1989): 465-83.