1. THE SCARLET LETTER CRITICAL ANALYSIS BY MCKENZIE FREY

2. NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE Family History: William Hathorne & John Hathorne Nathaniel Hathorne, Sr. Early Feminine Influences: Elizabeth (Betsey) Clarke Manning Hathorne sisters & Manning relatives Peabody sisters

3. PATRIARCHAL AUTHORITY 1820-1875: Separate gender spheres—public & private Masculine vs. Feminine & “The Angel in the House” Republican Motherhood— Women raised leaders of American Nation “Instruct by example”—Lydia Maria Child “Women serve as stewards and prisoners”—Philip Gould

4. THE SENTIMENTAL NOVEL Between 1800-1860: Novels written by women for women “Seduction plots”—heroines fall—often die —Male characters: aggressive, sensual, Godless “Repetition of plot and characters” –Leonard Tennenhouse Hawthorne’s reaction

5. HAWTHORNE’S NOVELLA Critiques: Gender roles & gender spheres Deconstructs: Gender stereotypes Praises: Feminine dominance in society Advocates: Unity of gender spheres

6. MY CRITICAL ANALYSIS Focuses on: Reversals of gender roles Revising the female prisoner Emasculation Foil characters of Hester and Pearl Value of paternal acknowledgement

7. DECONSTRUCTION OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SPHERES: Emasculation of physical structures Highlights masculine qualities juxtaposed with feminine Prison & rose bush Women beyond the private sphere Breaking the sentimental stereotype

8. IMMORTAL FLOWER: PEARL Does not wither in feminine qualities Lois Cuddy quote Pearl is Hester’s foil Linking back to notions of Republican Motherhood Karen Kilcup quote Pearl questions Dimmesdale’s integrity

9. BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER Dimmesdale liberates Pearl: Severs bond between mother and daughter Pearl enacts the role of the sentimental heroine Dimmesdale’s paternity prevails

10. CONCLUSION

11. WORKS CITED Bensick, Carol M. "Partly Sympathy and Partly Rebellion." Hawthorne and Women: Engendering and Expanding the Hawthorne Tradition. Ed. John Jr. L. Idol and Melinda M. Ponder. Amherst: University of Massachussetts Press, 1999. 159-167. Print. Colacurcio, Micheal. "'The Woman's Own Choice': Sex, Metaphor, and the Puritan 'Sources' of The Scarlet Letter." Colacurcio, Micheal. New Essays on The Scarlet Letter. New York: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge, 1985. 101-129. Print. Goodenough, Elizabeth N. "Demons of Wickedness, Angels of Delight." Hawthorne and Women: Engendering and Expanding the Hawthorne Tradition. Ed. John Jr. L. Idol and Melinda M. Ponder. Amherst: University of Massachussetts Press, 1999. 226-236. Print. Gould, Philip. "Revisiting the "Feminization" of American Culture." differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies 11.3 (1999): i-xii. Web.. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Simon & Schuster Inc., 1963. Print. Johnson, Claudia Durst. "Discord in Concord." Hawthorne and Women: Engendering and Expanding the Hawthorne Tradition. Ed. John Jr. L. Idol and Melinda M. Ponder. Amherst: University of Massachussetts Press, 1999. 104-119. Print. Kilcup, Karen. "Emily Dickinson's Pearls." Hawthorne and Women: Engendering and Expanding the Hawthorne Tradition. Ed. John Jr. L. Idol and Melinda M. Ponder. Amherst: University of Massachussetts Press, 1999. 237-249. Print. Romero, Lora. "A Society Controlled by Women: An Overview." Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Ed. Kathy D. Darrow. Detroit: Duke University Press, 1997. 11-34. Web.. Tennenhouse, Leonard. "Libertine America." differences: A Journal of Feminists Cultural Studies 11.3 (1999): 1-25. Web..