『주홍글자』에 드러난 호손의 페미니즘

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to revisit Hawthorne's perspective of feminism in The Scarlet Letter. The study is motivated by the argument of Hawthorne's attitude toward feminism. Some critics understand him as feminist, others, anti-feminist. In advance, it is essential to examine Hawthorne's background, regarding his close relationships with women and the 19th- century Woman Movement. They are main factors that influenced Hawthorne's view of womanhood. In order to know Hawthorne's view of womanhood, this paper explored the 19th-century Woman Movement, tracing evolving images of ideal womanhood was found in American culture. These ideals included True Womanhood, Real Womanhood, Public Womanhood and New Womanhood. The study examined Hawthorne's fiction, The Scarlet Letter as well as several short stories looking specifically at these evolving images of womanhood. Hawthorne was very close to his elder sister Elizabeth, his mother Manning and his wife Sophia. He had good relationships with some public women such as Elizabeth Peabody and Margaret Fuller. These women had much influence on the shape of Hawthorne's view of womanhood. Hester in The Scarlet Letter was sometimes associated with Hawthorne's mother or Margaret Fuller. The Scarlet Letter revealed Hawthorne's reaction to the 19th-century Woman Movement and Hawthorne's view of womanhood. Hester in The Scarlet Letter becomes gradually transfigured into a progressive and reformative woman, free from submissive and conventional woman. In the conclusion and at the base of this response, Hawthorne is deserved to be understood as a 19th-century early feminist novelist.