A Feminist Precursor

Feminist literary criticism is one branch of interdisciplinary enquiry that takes gender as a fundamental organizing category of experience. This enquiry holds two related premises about gender. One is that the inequality of the sexes is neither a biological given nor a divine order, but a cultural construct. The second is that a male perspective has dominated fields of knowledge, shaping their paradigms and ideology. Therefore, the main concerns of feminist criticism include: revising the traditional concepts seen as serving particular purposes and restoring a female perspective by extending knowledge about women's experience and contributions to culture. From its beginning, the vital connection of feminist criticism with the women's movement has encouraged joint efforts and collaborative research. After examining the images of women in traditional literary works, feminist critics have found that works of literature are one of society's most powerful vehicles for expressing and promulgating male dominance over women. The main tasks of feminist critics are to reveal the misogynist assumptions previously ignored by patriarchal critics and to subvert patriarchal conceptions to reconstruct women's identity. In order to reach their aims, feminist critics adopt various theories and approaches in their criticism. And women's living experiences and existing value have been emphasized hi establishing critical stance and developing their theories.This thesis is to be devoted to exploring Hawthorne's feminist consciousness implied hi The Scarlet Letter. Following some feminist critical theories and methodology, the writer argues that it is his feminist consciousness that promotes Hawthorne to create a rebellious woman hi The Scarlet Letter. Influenced by his living background, and the ideological revolution of his time, Hawthorne nurtures his feminist consciousness. In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne interweaves such consciousness into the portrayals of a rebellious female character, Hester. First, by disclosing Hester's marginalized status, Hawthorne shows that misogynyuniversally exists in a Puritan patriarchy. And he condemns the unfair treatment of women, which stems from male-dominated ideology. The disclosure forms a pretext of portraying Hester as a rebellious woman. In order to restore women's position of subjectivity, Hawthorne subverts the conception of binary oppositions of man and woman in the male-dominated culture by constructing the plot of his story and depicting his female and male characters. The focus of The Scarlet Letter is located in the full representation of the individuality of Hester. As an individual rebel, her individuality has been demonstrated in several facets: self-reliance, successful transformation of the meaning of the letter "A", and her wondrous revolutionary thoughts. In addition, Hawthorne also expresses his appreciation of some attributes of women: femininity and maternity. Through the analysis of the representation of the female character, Hester, Hawthorne's feminist consciousness can be detected in The Scarlet Letter.