Assignment - 10 The American Literature

    Different standards of morality for a male and for a female in society with special reference to The Scarlet Letter.

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Assignment - 10

Name : Vipul C Dabhi 

Semester : 3

Roll no : 35

Enrollment no : 2069108420180009

Email ID : dabhivc04@gmail.com

Paper : 10 The American Literature 

Topic : Different standards of morality for a male and for a female in society with the reference to "The Scarlet Letter". 

Batch : 2017-2019

Submitted to : Department of English, MKBU. 

Introduction 

     So many time we hear about morality. Time and again most of the people puts stress on moral living. But question might be arise in our mind that if we live the life with morality then, do we get happiness or not...?  Because in today's society there are so many peoples who has nothing to do with moral values yet they gets more success in their lives. 

   But here the question is different because morality differs according to the person. Like for someone honesty remains in the center where's for somebody else it is not so. Though the way this concept is seen by society it self remains in problem. Because it is society who creates the morality according to the power. And crucial question is that for male and for female morality remains different. It seems that patriarchy still rules in today's time and as a result of it women has to suffer a lot. 

What is Morality : 

         First let us see the dictionary meaning of the word morality. It is the distinction between good and bad. A particular behavior which makes human being ethically well. 

       So, in definition we can't find any particular difference between men and women. So we can say that it is the power who has created this kinds of rules for their self motives. 

Morality for Men : 

Yes, there is different standard prevail in the society for men. And ultimately it is more centered with the patriarchal ideas. men are more likely to adhere to rigid principles. Should we sacrifice an innocent person for the greater good? A principled answer might be, "Yes; the best action maximizes outcome," or "No; it's never acceptable to sacrifice the innocent." When men watch wrongdoers getting punished, there is activation in reward centers of their brains. 

Although patriarchy exists within the scientific atmosphere, "the periods over which women would have been at a physiological disadvantage in participation in hunting through being at a late stage of pregnancy or early stage of child-rearing would have been short", during the time of the nomads, patriarchy still grew with power. Lewontin and others argue that such biological determinism unjustly limits women. In his study, he states women behave a certain way not because they are biologically inclined to, but rather because they are judged by "how well they conform to the stereotypical local image of femininity".

Ultimately we can say that men can do anything whatsoever he wants. Society will not say anything to him. 

Morality for Women :

They can't think on their own. They have to depend on the male. They can't behave in such manner. There are so many fields where they can't go. So we can say that whole process of women are in the hands of patriarchal power. 

The state: women are unlikely to have formal power and representation

The household: women are more likely to do the housework and raise the children

Violence: women are more prone to being abused

Paid work: women are likely to be paid less

Sexuality: women's sexuality is more likely to be treated negatively

Culture: representation of women in media, and popular culture is "within a patriarchal gaze".

In the Scarlet Letter : 

Before we consider the moral value of the work, it is worthwhile to look at the literary worth of this masterpiece of beauty and power. The largeness of its theme, the imaginative genius of the author, the symmetrical design, the ordering of plot, the allegorical significance and richness of symbolism, all contribute to the effectiveness of the work. The novel is rich in the use of symbols, some of which appear in the first chapter and abound throughout the entire work. While some are obvious and easy to identify others are more impressive and involved as Hawthorne makes them take on various meanings as the work progresses. One such symbol is the letter A that is literal symbol adultery, and takes on a number of forms, but becomes a positive symbol before the novel ends.

In The Scarlet Letter, as in some of his other stories, Hawthorne seems obsessed with the effect of sin on the sinners themselves. His earliest ancestor was William Hawthorne who arrived in Massachusetts in 1630. Hawthorne speaks of him as a soldier, legislator, judge and church leader who possessed all the Puritanical traits, both good and evil. He bitterly persecuted the Quakers and whipped them openly in the streets. One of his sons, John, great-great-grandfather of Nathaniel was one of the judges at the Salem with trials at which it is said, one of the victims pronounced a curse on Judge Hawthorne and his posterity.

Whether or not Hawthorne believed in curses, he did believe in the reality of sin and guilt, and shared with his Puritan ancestors the belief in man's partial depravity and inherited guilt.

Sin and Guilt : 

Different types of sin are represented in The Scarlet Letter. Arlin Turner notes that there are "sins of the flesh, sins of weakness, sins of will and the intellect. The transgression of Hester and Dimmesdale stands condemned by the laws of society" .

Hester stands on the scaffold wearing a drab gray dress with a large scarlet "A" on her bosom. She shows to the world the result of her sin in the form of little Pearl. While Hester's sin is visible to all, Dimmesdale's is hidden. The minister conceals his wrong, --the fact that he has broken the moral law – and the only suggestion that something is wrong in his life is the habit he has of constantly putting his hand over his heart. Henry James describes him as "the tormented young Puritan minister, who carries the secret of his own lapse from pastoral purity locked beneath an exterior that commends itself to the reverence of his flock, while he sees the softer partner of his guilt standing in the full glare of exposure and humbling herself to the misery of atonement" .

Rodger Chillingworth, Hester's husband, an older man, described as small, thin and slightly deformed, is guilty of two sins. The first is against Nature. Selfishness had led him to marry Hester, a young, passionate girl. He knew that Hester did not love him and he was not the kind of man to make her a good husband. He admits in Chapter 4, "Mine was the first wrong, when I betrayed thy budding youth into a false and unnatural relation with my decay." And Hester knows it too. "It seemed a fouler offence committed by Rodger Chillingworth, than any which had since been done him, that, in the time when her heart knew no matter, he had persuaded her to fancy herself happy by his side".. The second sin, which seems more serious than the first, begins to take control of Chillingworth when he first appears at the scaffold in Chapter 3. "Briefly defined, this sin is the subordination of the heart to intellect. It occurs when one is willing to sacrifice his fellow man to gratify his own selfish interests. As displayed by Chillingworth, it involves a violation of two biblical injunctions: 'Judge not, that ye be not judged' and 'Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord'". In Dimmesdale's words, "He has violated in cold blood, the sanctity of a human heart". Hawthorne regards this sin as a grave one and many critics support the idea. Henry James speaks of Chillingworth as devising the "infernally ingenious plan of conjoining himself with his wronger, living with him, living upon him; and while he pretends to minister to his hidden ailment and to sympathize with his pain, revels in his unsuspected knowledge of these things, and stimulates them by malignant arts". The second sin which seems more serious than the first, begins to take control of Chillingworth when he first appears at the scaffold in Chapter 3. "Briefly defined, this sin is the subordination of the heart to intellect. It occurs when one is willing to sacrifice his fellow man to gratify his own selfish interests. As displayed by Chillingworth, it involves a violation of two biblical injunctions:'Judge not, that ye be not judged' and 'Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord'".. In Dimmesdale's words, "He has violated in cold blood, the sanctity of a human heart".  Hawthorne regards this sin as a grave one and many critics support the idea. Henry James speaks of Chillingworth as devising the "infernally ingenious plan of conjoining himself with his wronger, living with him, living upon him; and while he pretends to minister to his hidden ailment and to sympathize with his pain, revels in his unsuspected knowledge of these things, and stimulates them by malignant arts" .

Hawthorne shows the woman suffering public shame and scorn, the sensitive and neurotic minister who conceals his participation in the sin withering inside, and the jealous old man, Chillingworth, consumed by the madness of revenge. Turner states that the author's "basic assumption is that reward and punishment are inevitable here and now--retribution for sin is certain.. But while Hawthorne sees punishments for the wrong doers as being meted out now, Ecclesiastes 12:14 states that "God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." The biblical view is that reward is certain even if it is not immediate.

Conclusion : 

Thus, we can conclude that in the novel male characters doesn't suffer much compared to the female characters. If woman has done the wrong than she has to leave the town or society will not see her as normal being. Where's for male even nobody notices that kinds of things. But at the end we can say that writer has tried to give freedom to the women characters in the novel. 

Work cited :

https://www.bartleby.com/essay/Guilt-and-Shame-in-Hawthornes-The-Scarlet-F3UDC6SWGDA5

http://christintheclassroom.org/vol_24/24cc_117-135.htm