Category Archives: Mothers

The Personal Power of Hester Prynne

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HesterPrynneAs created by Nathaniel Hawthorne in The Scarlet Letter, the character of Hester Prynne is a powerful woman.  She interacts impressively with those around her in the epoch that the story takes place – Puritan America of the 1640’s.  If she had lived in the days of Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804 – 1864) it is certain that she would also be looked upon as an influential woman of that time.  In fact, if she had lived in our day, there is no doubt that she would be a leader among women in our society.

The source of Hester’s power is her moral integrity.  Now, that may be a fantastic claim for the main character of a novel that addresses adultery.  But I am confident that you will at least understand the thesis, if not agree with it, once the evidence is presented and considered.

We will first review the social structure that prevailed in Puritan America, including the roles of men and women.  We will observe how Hester related to the male hierarchy and especially how she dealt with the austere consequences of her choice that were thrust upon her.  The strength of Hester’s moral character will become apparent as she remains true to promises made to other key characters in the story.  Her power will clearly be made manifest in a few final scenes in which it is obvious that she is the real pillar of the most important relationships in her life.

Hester Prynne rises above the events that mold her life, and demonstrates how embracing her identity and especially her sexuality allow her to be a powerful influence for good among all those who know her.  Through Hester, Hawthorne helps us see the personal power of a woman, in this case a woman of deep passion who is forced by a cold society to subdue and master that passion, which is so evident in her youth, beauty and spirit.

Hester Makes Her Appearance

We are introduced to Hester as she comes out of the jail where she had been incarcerated ostensibly for adultery and presumably where she gave birth to her daughter, Pearl a few months previously.  She had come to this land ahead of a husband, who was apparently lost at sea.  We are not certain if she is a member of the Puritan faith, but it is certain that she now lives among their society.  Looking for direction in her time of recent loss, she seeks guidance and comfort from the local minister.  Comfort turns to passion and the result is now borne in her arms.

She emerges to “a people amongst whom religion and law are almost identical” (Hawthorne, 45).  The crime of adultery could have been punished by death or by public flogging, but in this case, Hester is required to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her bosom as a sign to all of her crime.  Being good with the needle, she has made it into a beautiful emblem, and embroidered it with a gold thread.

Some of the people are surprised, but show no sympathy.  “At the very least, they should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne’s forehead,” (Hawthorne 47), proclaims one of the women in the market-place where Hester is brought forth for public ridicule.  “This woman has brought shame upon us all and ought to die.  Is there not a law for it?  Truly there is, both in the Scripture and the statute-book” (Hawthorne 47).

The magistrates of the community are no more compassionate than the gaggle of gossiping women as they interrogate her publically and once again ask her to reveal the father of the child.  They even have the Reverend Dimmesdale implore her with passionate speech to name her lover.  Looking directly into his eyes, she refuses and expresses the desire that she “might endure his agony, as well as mine” (Hawthorne 63).  This is a clear indication of the moral strength of this woman.  She knows what it will do to the minister if she names him.  But she is willing to sacrifice herself that he might continue on in his office.  That is impressive!  But he cannot hide from the torment of his own guilt and shame.

The Long-Lost Husband Appears

A major character in the story makes his appearance in the market place and witnesses what is taking place without revealing who he really is – Hester’s long lost husband who had been delayed by both shipwreck and falling among savages.  Hester had recognized him but they did not speak until later when he comes to visit her and the child in the jail.  He is a scholar and a chemist and treats the distraught pair that they may be at peace.  A conversation ensues in which we come to know that theirs was a loveless marriage.  He also asks her to name her lover but she continues to refuse.

He then swears her to secrecy regarding his identity.  “I will keep thy secret, as I have his,” (Hawthorne 71) said Hester.  And she took the oath. Once again, we see that Hester is a woman of moral integrity as she never reveals who he is until much later in the story and only then after getting his permission.  She wonders what his purpose is at the time but it becomes obvious later that he is out for revenge.  He promises that he will discover her lover and destroy him, which he proceeds to do by becoming close to him over time.

Hester Learns From Her Punishment

Hester accepts her punishment, wears the scarlet “A,” becomes an outcast from society and yet finds a way to provide for herself and Pearl by her skills with the needle as a seamstress. At one point, hearing talk that the magistrates are considering her fitness as a mother, she goes to the governor to deliver a pair of gloves and to discuss with him the welfare of the child. She is told that she may not see his worship now.  “Nevertheless, I will enter,” (Hawthorne 96) she answered as she pushes past the servant and makes her way into the house to find the governor.  By this one simple action we sense the dignity and power of this woman.  She cannot be deterred when she has a mission to perform.

She has heard aright, they have been considering the child’s welfare and ask her mother what she can do for her.  “I can teach my little Pearl what I have learned from this,” (Hawthorne 102) and lays her finger on the scarlet letter.  She has obviously already become a wiser woman as she emphasizes the lessons are for Pearl’s good.  They address Pearl directly and ask her who made her, hoping to determine if she has learned from her mother some basic Christian doctrine.  Pearl replies that she has been plucked by her mother off the wild rose bushes that grew by the prison door.

Hester Defends Herself With Passion

It doesn’t look good for Hester but she passionately defends herself by proclaiming, “God gave me the child!  He gave her in requital of all things else which ye had taken from me. She is my happiness—she is my torture, none the less! Pearl keeps me here in life! Pearl punishes me, too! See ye not, she is the scarlet letter, only capable of being loved, and so endowed with a millionfold the power of retribution for my sin? Ye shall not take her! I will die first!” (Hawthorne 104) Wow!  What passion!

She then turns to Reverend Dimmesdale and says, “Speak thou for me! Thou wast my pastor, and hadst charge of my soul, and knowest me better than these men can. I will not lose the child! Speak for me! Thou knowest—for thou hast sympathies which these men lack—thou knowest what is in my heart, and what are a mother’s rights, and how much the stronger they are when that mother has but her child and the scarlet letter! Look thou to it! I will not lose the child! Look to it!” (Hawthorne 105)

She knows what she is doing.  Here is the father and she knows that he must defend her rights as the mother or risk exposure himself.  Once again, the moral courage of Hester shines forth as she courageously defends herself by virtue of her position as a woman and mother, in spite of the control of the male-dominated system.  Her influence upon Dimmesdale is obviously very powerful as he is able to convince the governor that Pearl should remain with Hester, for both their sakes.  The mission for which Pearl was born has not yet been fulfilled.

Hester gets Permission to Break Her Oath

Space does not permit numerous other examples that demonstrate the power of this woman so we will consider the two most obvious.  Let us skip forward to the forest scene where the Reverend Dimmsdale is returning from a visit to a friend.  It is Hester’s intention to reveal to her lover the true identity of the man who is seeking to destroy him.  As was noted earlier, she obtained permission to break her oath after confronting her husband and demanding that he release her from her bond.

She can no longer stand what her husband has been doing to her lover with his slow torture, both emotional and probably chemical.  She convinces the old man with her eloquent and passionate speech that the Reverend needs to know the truth.  Relenting to her persuasion, he says “It is our fate. Let the black flower blossom as it may! Now, go thy ways, and deal as thou wilt with yonder man” (Hawthorne 163).

The Famous Forest Encounter

She waits for the Reverend on the forest path.  She calls his name and they begin their first private conversation in seven years since the night of their passion.  His pain is almost palpable to Hester.  He is so miserable because of the lie he has been living for so long.  She reveals the true identity of the doctor; that he was once her husband and that he has been taking his revenge out on the Reverend for all these years.  She begs his forgiveness.  He refuses.

“Oh, Hester Prynne, thou little, little knowest all the horror of this thing! And the shame!—the indelicacy!—the horrible ugliness of this exposure of a sick and guilty heart to the very eye that would gloat over it! Woman, woman, thou art accountable for this!—I cannot forgive thee!” (Hawthorne 183)  And then, with the power that only a woman has, and in what is arguably the best scene in the book,

…with sudden and desperate tenderness she threw her arms around him, and pressed his head against her bosom, little caring though his cheek rested on the scarlet letter. He would have released himself, but strove in vain to do so. Hester would not set him free, lest he should look her sternly in the face. All the world had frowned on her—for seven long years had it frowned upon this lonely woman—and still she bore it all, nor ever once turned away her firm, sad eyes. Heaven, likewise, had frowned upon her, and she had not died. But the frown of this pale, weak, sinful, and sorrow-stricken man was what Hester could not bear, and live! (Hawthorne 183)

The Power of a Passionate Woman

He cannot resist the power of this passionate embrace and so forgives her and asks God to forgive them both. Now for only a brief moment in the forest, we are privileged to witness once again the awesome power of this woman as they make plans to leave and go away together to England.  “If this be the path to a better life, as Hester would persuade me, I surely give up no fairer prospect by pursuing it! Neither can I any longer live without her companionship; so powerful is she to sustain—so tender to soothe!” (Hawthorne 190) Hester then

undid the clasp that fastened the scarlet letter, and, taking it from her bosom, threw it to a distance among the withered leaves. The mystic token alighted on the hither verge of the stream … The stigma gone, Hester heaved a long, deep sigh, in which the burden of shame and anguish departed from her spirit. O exquisite relief! She had not known the weight until she felt the freedom! By another impulse, she took off the formal cap that confined her hair, and down it fell upon her shoulders, dark and rich, with at once a shadow and a light in its abundance, and imparting the charm of softness to her features. There played around her mouth, and beamed out of her eyes, a radiant and tender smile, that seemed gushing from the very heart of womanhood. A crimson flush was glowing on her cheek, that had been long so pale. Her sex, her youth, and the whole richness of her beauty, came back from what men call the irrevocable past, and clustered themselves with her maiden hope, and a happiness before unknown, within the magic circle of this hour (Hawthorne 191).

This scene is so powerful because it illustrates the influence of one woman upon a man whom she loves.  Such was “the bliss of these two spirits! Love, whether newly-born, or aroused from a death-like slumber, must always create a sunshine, filling the heart so full of radiance, that it overflows upon the outward world. Had the forest still kept its gloom, it would have been bright in Hester’s eyes, and bright in Arthur Dimmesdale’s!” (Hawthorne 192)  Trite as it may seem, and overused as the phrase may be, Hester’s personal power was the power of love – a love that heals and that binds two souls together.  And Hester was blessed with an overabundance of this powerful gift.

Concluding Scenes

We must conclude this essay demonstrating the power of this woman by considering the last scene.  After delivering an emotional election-day speech, the minister comes forth from the church and goes to where Hester and Pearl have been waiting for him at the scaffold, the same place where she was publically ridiculed for her crime seven years earlier.  He has resolved that he is too sick to live much longer and decides that running away is not the best thing to do.  He extended his hand to the woman of the scarlet letter.

“Hester Prynne … in the name of Him, so terrible and so merciful, who gives me grace, at this last moment, to do what—for my own heavy sin and miserable agony—I withheld myself from doing seven years ago, come hither now, and twine thy strength about me! Thy strength, Hester; but let it be guided by the will which God hath granted me! … Come, Hester—come! Support me up yonder scaffold” (Hawthorne 237).

Drawing obvious strength from Hester as she supports him with her arm about him, he makes public confession of his part in the crime of passion that brought forth little Pearl.  Speaking in the third person, “He bids you look again at Hester’s scarlet letter! He tells you, that, with all its mysterious horror, it is but the shadow of what he bears on his own breast, and that even this, his own red stigma, is no more than the type of what has seared his inmost heart! (Hawthorne 240) Baring his breast, he shows the multitude the he too bears the mark of his sin, even though it is not described in detail.

“Then, down he sank upon the scaffold!  Hester partly raised him, and supported his head against her bosom.” (Hawthorne 240).  He acknowledges Pearl as his child and she kisses him.  She has been waiting for this day for so long.  At last, her earthly father has acknowledged her as his.  “A spell was broken … Towards her mother, too, Pearl’s errand as a messenger of anguish was fulfilled” (Hawthorne 240).  The minister dies after his confession, now believing that his soul is saved and attributing it to the torture of Hester’s husband and the ignominy of his confession before the people of his crime and in hiding his sin all those years.

Analysis

Although it seems such a sad and unfulfilling ending, think about what has just happened, all because Hester Prynne endured her punishment with courage and strength of character.  She did not give up.  She loved Pearl and raised her as best she could.  She turned a deplorable and unfair situation into a triumph because of her determination to see that things were set right in the end.  She suffered public humiliation and ignominy for seven years while it appeared that the man who was her partner in crime got away, adored by others.

And yet, because of her love for this man, she was able to cause him to confess his crime, acknowledge his child and perhaps, even help to redeem his soul.  “Shall we not spend our immortal life together? Surely, surely, we have ransomed one another, with all this woe!” (Hawthorne 241) Nathaniel Hawthorne left us with the dying words of the Reverend expressing doubt that he and Hester could ever be together in the hereafter.  “I fear! It may be, that, when we forgot our God—when we violated our reverence each for the other’s soul—it was thenceforth vain to hope that we could meet hereafter, in an everlasting and pure reunion” (Hawthorne 241).

But love knows no bounds, including time and space.  Who is to say, if these were real characters, that they couldn’t be together in the world to come, bound by the power of the love demonstrated by Hester Prynne?  Hester lived on, quietly, and became something of a legend in the community of Boston.  The scarlet letter made her what she became, and, in the end, she grew stronger and more at peace because of her suffering.  She continued to wear the scarlet letter to the end of her days, but she wore it as a symbol of her power.  This is a power that no man could ever wield.  Such a power belonged only to a woman with the courage and strength of moral character like that of Hester Prynne.

Source: Hawthorne, Nathaniel.  The Scarlet Letter.  1850.
   New York: Barnes and Noble Classics, 2003.

A mother who knew

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My mother was a Presbyterian and a pretty darn good one. In fact, I’m sure she was one of the best, meaning that she knew the doctrine better than most. That’s probably because she came from a long line of Presbyterians, many of whom were ordained ministers. Mother was an educator. She loved the Bible. She loved telling stories from the Bible. She loved talking about the doctrines of salvation. She studied. She learned. She taught others. She taught me.

Mother got a degree in education back when most women did not go to college. She would have received her Master’s degree in education but never defended her thesis. She was too busy teaching school and raising a family. Her journal is filled with stories of discussing the doctrines of the gospel with her ministers and professors in college. She had an insatiable thirst for knowledge and was never satisfied when her questions weren’t answered. That frustrated her.

She loved teaching so much that she took a job as the Director of Christian Education at a large local church. She had to quit after two months because one of my sisters got real sick with Meningitis. She started teaching in the California public school system after my sister recovered. Because she loved the Bible so much she used to share Bible stories with the children in her classes. Can you imagine that happening in the California public school system today?

My Southern heritage

My family is from the South, mainly South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee and later, Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri. I’m a California boy, my parents having arrived in the Golden state a few years before I was born. I feel out of place in California. Life is too hurried here. Everyone is always going places and neighbors keep to themselves. Every time I visit the South I feel like I’ve come home. I feel relaxed and peaceful. I know it is the land of many of my ancestors.

Religion in the South is different than it is in California and especially than it is in Utah. It’s a different sort of cultural heritage. There is much more of a focus on neighborly kindness, social friendliness and Christian service. Teachings of the Savior, His grace, His mercy and His absolute love and acceptance of the sinner are everywhere. You can visit one Christian Church after another in the South and mostly hear the same focus, based of course, strictly on the Bible.

There are not a lot of surprises in what is taught in the local congregations there. The history of the early Christian church is common knowledge. The doctrines of salvation as taught from the Bible are fairly straightforward. Nobody is coming up with any new twist about what you are supposed to do to get into heaven. Salvation is a matter of believing the Bible, accepting Christ and living a Christian life. It is reliable, unchanging and produces good results in the faithful.

Along came the Mormons

Mother joined the Mormon Church for several reasons. She had a young family. She loved the focus on the family and the example of others who were influential in her life, especially the school principal. He was fair and had no problems working with her when she had family emergencies. The little girl in her class that got up in sharing time and told the class about dressing in white and being baptized at age eight intrigued her. She wanted to know more.

It didn’t take mother long to come to the conclusion that she wanted to be baptized. She took her whole family to church and we sat in the back. Everybody was so friendly. Dad had to work. But when she heard about family history and genealogy she felt something special. Here was something new that she hadn’t heard about growing up as a Presbyterian. When she was taught about the temple she knew that she had found what she had been looking for in college.

Her immediate understanding and acceptance of the purpose of the Temple tells you something about the spiritual level my Mother was on at that time in her life. She made sure we were all sealed together as a family in the Temple exactly one year after we were baptized. She even took a year off from school, a Sabbatical, to start researching her family history and collecting names and dates from everyone she could contact back in the South. She was hooked.

Difficulties of remaining faithful

Mother was so enamored with and consumed by doing family history research that it became a full-time passion. She quit teaching school and spent every waking moment writing letters to relatives, recording her research on those long legal-size family group sheets and pedigree charts and dragging her kids down to the National Archives. I still remember the day I found one of our ancestors on the microfilm reader. Mother was ecstatic and overjoyed. I think I was too.

While I was on my mission, mother found another passion that distracted her from her family history work. Because of her love of history and teaching, she took classes and graduated from the local Institute of Religion. She took it seriously. I still have some of her doctrinal papers that she wrote and am just amazed at the depth of her understanding. However, the Spirit of Elijah was strong. She knew that her family history work wasn’t completed. There was so much to do.

She wanted to move to Utah so badly so she could be closer to the church archives that she and dad sold me their house and off they went. Unfortunately, she wasn’t prepared for the cultural shock. While she loved the doctrine and understood it better than most she just could not get used to the authoritative hierarchy of the church. It was so foreign to her. No matter how many times I tried to explain the Priesthood, she always said it was just the men’s club of the Church.

A bad taste for Utah Mormons

I know this is going to be offensive to some who read this, but it’s just the way it is so I’m going to lay it all out there. Mother was shocked by her encounter with Utah Mormons. They were nothing like California Mormons. For so many, the Church was just a social organization. It was just something they grew up with and took for granted. So many of them had no clue about the rich history or the deep, complex and powerful doctrines of the Restoration. It just sickened her.

Because of her obvious knowledge of the gospel, Mother was called as the Gospel Doctrine teacher. Of course, she wanted to discuss the doctrines that she had studied and learned so well. When she brought some of these things up in class, all she got were blank stares as if she had horns growing out of her head. When she tried to teach some of the history that you don’t normally get in Gospel Doctrine, she was released. That hurt. What she tried to teach was true.

Of course I wasn’t there so I can’t tell you what really happened. I may have even confused some of the basic facts of the story. But I do know how it affected my mother. She was never the same. She could no longer participate in a church that would not encourage a full and open discussion of the history and where most of the members did not understand the doctrines. After ten years in Utah, mother and dad returned to California and lived out their lives in Hemet, never returning to church.

Summary and conclusion

Having served in many Priesthood leadership positions over the years I think I can appreciate what happened. Mother was so far above everyone else in her knowledge and understanding of doctrine and history that she intimidated and overwhelmed everyone who heard her teach. It wasn’t that what she was trying to teach wasn’t true, it’s just that sometimes it wasn’t exactly stuff that was found in the Gospel Doctrine manual. Do you see the problem?

When her bishops tried to help her understand the problem, she became furious and enraged. I mean that literally. She felt so resentful that some hick cowboy would tell her to tone it down that she would tear up her temple recommend, throw it at him and storm out. Of course she knew so much more than this old farmer would ever know. What was he talking about, “a different kind of knowledge?” To the end of her days, I’m not sure that she ever got it.

Here’s the point: It’s not a knowledge of the facts about the history of the church that saves us. It’s not even our ability to intellectually understand and explain the doctrines of salvation. It’s a knowledge of our standing with the Lord that gives us the gift of peace in this life and hope for the life to come. If we can’t say that we know we have been forgiven of our sins and that we are clean before the Lord, then we are missing something very fundamental to our salvation.

Epilogue

Obviously, I am not my mother. My experience in the Church has been completely different because I am a man. I love my mother. I am so glad I was born to this amazing woman. I would not have had it any other way. She taught me so much, especially the importance of seeking and obtaining knowledge. I owe so much of who I am to this brilliant woman who so richly and deeply blessed my life. But I am still coming to grips with what happened to her.

Mother died a few years ago. She raised a wonderful family. Her four daughters are just as incredible as she was. Her two sons are a little messed up but that’s a different story. Mother didn’t quite fit into the Mormon church, or at least the Utah version of the Mormon church. Of course I shouldn’t be calling it that. It is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That means we should be focusing on Jesus Christ and the gospel of love that he taught.

I love this church. It has been good to me. I still have a long ways to go before I understand and accomplish all the things I came here to do. I wonder if maybe I have it a little easier because I am a man and what is expected of me is fairly clear and obvious. But what happens to a woman who embraces the restored gospel as taught in this Church with all her heart and tries to share her passion for the knowledge she has gained? Is that the normal role of women in our church?

Mothers Who Know and What Women Know

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I am just a little behind on this issue. In fact I didn’t even know it was an issue until Carol mentioned it the other day. She belongs to a Relief Society email newsgroup where the subject was being discussed. Apparently, a number of sisters took offense at the wonderful recent general conference address by Sister Julie B Beck, General President of the Relief Society.

I had to go back and read it again to see what all the fuss was about. The address is entitled ‘Mothers Who Know.” I suppose the main thing that some women took offense at is they felt excluded because they weren’t mothers. I don’t think Sister Beck intended to exclude women who weren’t mothers from her conference address.

In fact, just the week before she gave an equally wonderful address at the women’s broadcast. The subject there was “What Latter-day Saint Women Do Best: Stand Strong and Immovable.” Nobody complained about that talk with her three-part focus on faith, families and relief. I guess it was just that her General Conference talk focused so much on mothering.

Some sisters felt so strongly about what she said that they have actually written a dissenting document and posted it on the Internet. I won’t link to it. You can find it if you want. It is entitled, “What Women Know.” They apparently took offense to Sister Beck starting her talk with a reference to the 2,000 stripling warriors by pointing out how bad war is.

Update: I am so glad to see that enough sisters feel so strongly about this subject that they created their own website entitled, “Mothers Who Know.” I am happy to link to it here.

If you have found and read the opposing statement you may appreciate that the introduction points out that Sister Beck’s talk “conflicts with their inspiration and experience.” When I read that 2 Ne 9:28 came to my mind. I won’t comment on all the other parts of their dissertation but I will comment on two phrases that speak volumes.

One phrase is that too many of these women fear that they “are just one fully-employed male away from poverty.” Huh? Where did that come from and what does it have to do with Sister Beck’s talk? These women seem to be coming from a fear-based and not a faith-based point of view. The church has never taught that women should not excel in education or employability.

The other phrase I find disturbing is that they claim that many of their men “also struggle within a system that equates leadership with hierarchy and domination.” True, the priesthood organization of the Church is hierarchical, but that is from revealed doctrine. Domination is a different story and has forever been preached against as long as I can remember.

I wonder what my mother would have thought of this talk if she were still alive. My mother raised four daughters and two sons. She was an extremely well-read and educated woman. Would she have taken offense at Sister Beck’s reminder to bring children to church “in clean and ironed dresses with hair brushed to perfection?” I’ll have to ask my sisters.

What did you think of Sister Beck’s talk in General Conference? Was it demeaning or offensive or did you find it uplifting and encouraging?