Gender Constructs Within Hawthorne’s Works

Gender Constructs within Hawthorne’s Works Often found within Nathaniel Hawthorne’s writings woman are depicted as beautiful, humble woman who are either suffering at the hands of strong willed, arrogant men. “A quiet, shy fellow prone to a genteel nature ill-suited to the aggressive competitive nature of the era 's masculinity, Hawthorne struggled to rationalize and justify his writing career with the imagined indictment of his Puritan forefathers that he was a ‘mere scribbler, a story-teller’” (Lucia).Within the 1820’s when Hawthorne’s writing was first being published the world was going through a shift within itself. In the midst of woman’s suffrage, women were being seen for more than just being capable of bearing children, and tending to homes. “Without delving too deeply into psychology and literary theory, by and large, writers write what they know - or what they associate most deeply with, even if only on a subconscious level. Bereft of a substantive father figure in his life, having to see his mother - a woman - always dependent on others, and growing up during this time of social, economic, and religious turmoil, it 's only logical to assume that Hawthorne would have a great affinity for the themes he was most familiar with: questions regarding sex, gender roles/submission to those roles, social class and standing, guilt and sin, and the consequences of stepping out of established social and gender roles” (Lucia). Within many of Hawthorne’s works there is a sense of misogyny, male supremacy especially through sexuality, and his constanttendency to infantilize women concentrating on “Young Goodman Brown” and“The Birthmark”. Hawthorne begins “Young Goodman Brown” flirting within the line that informs the reader of Young Goodman Brown’s infidel ways. Faith, Brown’s wife, is saying her goodbyes to Brown before he embarks on a journey—that at this point is still unknown to the reader. While telling him goodbye she states “prithee put off your journey

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