Double Consequences Of Double Standards

Without an honorable reputation a person is not worthy of respect from others in their society. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter, the struggle to shake off the past is an underlying theme throughout the novel. Characters in this novel go through their lives struggling with trying to cope with the guilt and shame associated with actions that lost them their honorable reputation. Particularly, Hawthorne shows the lasting effect that sin and guilt has on two of the main characters in the book: Hester Prynne and Reverend Dimmesdale.

In The Scarlet Letter if anyone doesn’t follow the rules set by the society and the church they are punished harshly. If you committed Adultery, which was frowned upon by the church you were forced to wear a scarlet A and stand on a platform being publicly shamed everyday. Everyone had to follow the societal rules there were no questions asked. Even if they were technically not married because their spouse had died that is still adultery in the eyes of society. The punishment for disobeying the rules of society are unbelievably strict and cruel. The Scarlet Letter can relate because although you are not punished as severely nowadays you are still looked down upon for cheating on your spouse.

Every individual has signs of guilt with them, whether it is obviously plastered straight onto their body or secretly engraved within them. Typically, self-condemnation is due to what society or the person himself deems to be shameful, and that person often tries their best to beat the gnawing feeling of wrongdoing away to overcome it, or they resort to keep it hidden. In the subtle, yet dramatic scenes of “The Scarlet Letter,” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in the early 19th century, reveals a character who is tugged from two opposing ends in his life; on one hand he held his unforgivable, adulterous past and the other his glowing reputation amongst society. Hawthorne distinctively expresses Arthur Dimmesdale’s hopeless struggle to uphold

“There are many things in this world that a child must not ask about” (Hawthorne). In a shameful society, prejudice against an individual can go far beyond a child’s understanding of the society. On the other side, revealed, corrupt action often yields to ignominy and humiliation in public; thus, one would rather keep their guilt or shame to themselves for a perfect image. Similarly, during the 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote a novel in Salem, Massachusetts, The Scarlet Letter, which he portrays the impact of humanity’s ceaseless struggle with sin, guilt, and hypocrisy in public or private matters. Moreover, he reveals the society’s internal and external impact on the nature of the individuals. Specifically, Hawthorne utilized

Nathaniel Hawthorne's bold novel, The Scarlet Letter, revolves around sin and punishment.  The main characters of the novel sharply contrast each other in the way they react to the sin that has been committed

In Shortcomings, Adrian Tomine writes about Ben Tanaka’s relations with women, indirectly commenting on relationship between different races. An overarching theme through the novel is the gendered double standard that Ben holds when it comes to an Asian person's relations with white women versus white men. A double standard is defined by Merriam Webster as: “a set of principles that applies differently and usually more rigorously to one group of people or circumstances than to another; especially: a code of morals that applies more severe standards of sexual behavior to women than to men” (“Double Standard”). The second half of this definition is the most relevant part of our analysis of Ben. When Ben visits Miko in New York after she moves, he’s upset when he sees her on the arm of someone he assumes to be a white man despite having been with a white woman himself. This double standard that Tomine portrays reflects both Ben’s own perspectives and his inability to see past gender and race. Another important aspect to keep in mind is the use and danger of fetishization as talked about in Shortcomings. A fetish, according to Merriam-Webster, is: “An object or bodily part whose real or fantasized presence is psychologically necessary for sexual gratification and that is an object of fixation to the extent that it may interfere with complete sexual expression” (“Fetish”). The most important part of this definition is the second half, as Ben’s fixation on white women interferes with his sexual expression. Shortcomings emphasizes double standards and fetishizations through the repeated illustrations of women and through a comparison to Alice’s lesbian relationship to prove why Ben treats women in the book the way he does.

While the concept of morality has existed for some time, the exact details of determining immorality, and passing judgement over it, has varied greatly over time and between different cultures. In the novel The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the protagonist, Hester Prynne, is convicted of breaking the moral code of Puritan society in committing adultery. Hester is consequently ostracized by her town for her sins, all the while keeping the identity of her lover, a resident priest named Dimmesdale, a secret. Though guilty of the same crime, Dimmesdale’s health fails as the guilt he feels eats away at his body, while Hester, still personally ashamed of her sins, does not feel they invalidate her worth as a human being. Through Hester and Dimmesdale, Hawthorne reveals his belief that while one should not run from their mistakes, neither should one let the established laws of society invalidate their self-worth.

Frederick William Robertson once said, “There are three things in the world that deserve -- no mercy, hypocrisy, fraud, and tyranny.” Ushering in the Romantic era in literature, this quote stood as the foundation for many transcendental pessimists; Nathaniel Hawthorne was no exception. As described in The Custom House, the introduction to The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne heavily disapproves of his own extreme Puritan past and, in fact, heavily critiques it throughout the entire novel. However, while not directly, Hawthorne criticizes Puritan culture and ideals by exposing their sin in the community. He does this in a number of ways, but readers can plainly see that he chastises the Puritans by portraying them as religious extremists, intelligently

In their lifetime, everyone has done something wrong and felt guilt, however, what allows people to get over it often depends on to what extent they want to confess their wrongdoing as opposed to hiding behind or from it. In the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the values of the character Dimmesdale change over the course of the book as a result of the events he goes through. He overvalues social acceptance which causes him distress and imposes heavy guilt on his conscience but finally realizes that the only way to rid himself of that guilt and sin is to confess. Dimmesdale’s values of social acceptance and honesty change as he realizes that it is more important to honor honesty over social acceptance, demonstrating that redemption is only possible through public honesty.

We live in a country of equality where no groups are discriminated against at all. The white population is undoubtedly equal with all other ethnic groups. The same could be said for all of the various religious affiliations too, the Christians are on the same level as the Church of The Flying Spaghetti Monster. May His Noodley Appendage bless all of you my children! Sorry, for that al dente, yet off topic tangent. Back to complete equality. All of the Religions and ethnic groups are fine and all, but where real equality starts is in the sexes. When it comes to the sexes, it is undoubtedly the most equal group to be ever conceived by the human conciseness. Years of toil and strife have resulted in an overall benefit for both sexes. It’s not like there are any double standards or anything of that nature floating around like an ironic blight from hell. No, no, no not at all. Even going as far as saying that there are three double standards that are by far more insidious than all of the others. It’s not like I can identify these so-called double standards by name either. It would be a complete triviality for me to say that there are major double standards in today’s society and they happen to be modern “feminism”, being “objectified”, and the “justice” in crimes between sexes.

In The Scarlet Letter Hypocrisy is evident everywhere. The characters of Hester, Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, and the very society that the characters lived in, were steeped in hypocrisy. Hawthorne was not subtle in his portrayal of the terrible sin of hypocrisy; he made sure it was easy to see the sin at work , at the same time however, parallels can be drawn between the characters of The Scarlet Letter and of today’s society.

In “The Crucible”, a play about people being accused of witchcraft in 1692, both class and race played a part in who was accused and executed. The play began when the minister, Parris, catching local girls including his daughter, Betty, dancing at night with the black slave, Tituba. As soon as Betty became ill, Tituba was the first to be accused of witchcraft, and eventually executed. Soon, Tituba and Parris’s niece, Abigail started pointing fingers at many others in the community. Meanwhile, men with wealth or power such as Reverend Parris and Thomas Putnam, were trying to gain wealth and property by accusing others of witchcraft. An example of this was when Thomas Putnam wanted his daughter to accuse George Jacobs of witchcraft so Putnam could get his land. Judge Danforth, the person with the ultimate power, did not seem to seek justice for the powerless who were falsely accused. (Miller)

The existence of a double standard for Women today is a main reason why women become extremely radical. Women that do not appreciate being stereotyped and discriminated against, protest in forms of rallying and with lawsuits against people or institutions of society. The areas of society that use or even enforce a double standard against women may consider women to be inferior to men. This idea of superiority is discrimination. Often the work place, sports, and within homes do we see this idea of a double standard for women.

Society has unintentionally been guided by the same themes since the beginning of time. The recurring themes that are present in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic The Scarlet Letter are still relevant in today’s society. When high school students and teachers claim that Hawthorne’s novel is archaic and should be removed from the curriculum, they are absolutely wrong. Hester Prynne, the main character of the novel, commits adultery and as punishment, has to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her chest for everyone to see. Throughout the novel, Hester is faced with obstacles such as the struggle between self and society and the burden of publicly suffering for her sins. Despite a substantial amount of time having passed since Puritan times, the themes that Hester Prynne had to experience are still pertinent. Roger Chillingworth, Hester’s husband, is driven mad by his incessant need for revenge and in society today there are many occasions where people are plagued with the desire to seek vengeance. There are some instances in life where human nature takes over without people even realizing and revenge is one of them. Also, people are right when they say “history repeats itself” because some of these themes never go away. The Scarlet Letter takes place in the strict religious time of the 1600’s and although the book seems outdated and obsolete, the ideas inside are still relevant and therefore high school students should continue to read this work

In Adrienne Rich’s essay When We Dead Awaken: Writing as Re-Vision, she discusses the idea of men and women realizing the double standards in society, writing, “Both the victimization and the anger experienced by women are real, and have real source, everywhere in the environment, built into society, language, the structures of thought,” (Rich). This passage emphasizes the concept of how a patriarchal thought of life is embedded into society, introducing the various instances of suffering and discrimination that women face in their everyday lives. This interpretation is seen in Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, where he describes the life of Hester Prynne, a woman in 17th century Boston, who is forced to wear the scarlet letter