The Puritanical Feminist
(I apologize for the slight tardiness of tonight’s post–Oscar Night is the New England Holiday of my family!)
Aristophane’s play, Lysistrata, is one of the most prominent literary displays of women’s sexual power. In attempts to end the Peloponnesian War, Lysistrata convinces her fellow Grecian women to withhold sexual pleasures from their husbands until peace is reached. There is a deep truth behind this comedy, exposing the oft-lone power that women held in society for a very long time. Nancy F. Cott’s essay sheds light on how the ascent of the “passionless” woman helped plant the seeds of the feminist movement in the 19th century.
I distinctly recall siting in AP US History my junior year of high school as I tried to wrap my head around the idea that women’s power in the church was a major catalyst for the modern feminist movement. However, in further investigating the idea through this week’s readings, it makes total sense. For so long, women had been seen as objects meant solely for man’s desire, and as such, their only power was manifested in the manipulation of their sexuality. But as more women became invested in the evangelical church, a new power grew. As Cott explains: “the evangelical view, by concentrating on spiritual nature, simultaneously elevated women as moral and intellectual beings and disarmed them of their sexual power.” (135-136)
While this shift into passionlessness did stunt women’s one major power of the time, it instilled in them a new power over their choices (which was reflected in the departure from traditionally arranged marriages—though as it is pointed out in the essay, women did not have the ability to really choose their partners), as well as elevated them above the “animal nature” of sex. However, if we look at the arc of feminism now, we see that there was a significant shift towards sexual freedom as well as intellectual. The movement encouraged women to take full control of their mind and body.
It is interesting to look how this all plays into the Puritanical view of women’s sexuality, especially in regards to Hester Prynne. While the townspeople of Salem use Hester’s sin to cast hatred onto her, these feelings eventually lessen, and Hester becomes a valuable part of the community. I think this relates, at least in some sense, to her power as a woman. Following her adultery, she adopts a passionless existence, hiding the features of her womanhood. It is noted that she no longer holds the power of appealing to men, but it seems that, because of this, she adopts an even stronger power over herself and her choices.
In my opinion, Hester is a strong example of a feminist, both in the passionless and modern image—for she exhibits a focus on the intellectual and spiritual side of her mind as well as a power over her sexual side of her body. And it is women like Hester who would come to define an era of independent, fearless women who would begin a fight towards equality and freedom following the decades after her story ends.
Tags: feminism, Hester Prynne, Nancy F. Cott, Peiss, Power, The Scarlet Letter
February 25th, 2013 at 2:09 pm
It’s interesting to think about the connection of Hester to modern day feminism. I wouldn’t have thought of Lysistrata, and I like the broader context it gives. Women’s passion as being a source of power seems to be absent from this novel, and it is depicted instead as simply a propensity to sin. We are told that Hester loses her ability to function normally in society and to be accepted by her community, the latter of which she regains by the end. I like that you bring up the point that she also sacrificed her sexual power. But what else was lost? In a Puritanical society it’s easy not to notice the sexual freedoms that she loses, since she didn’t really have many to begin with. But in the modern day, it might be more apparent that someone who becomes a passionless woman would be losing some very personal freedoms, including the freedom to be perceived as someone with sexual desire.
February 26th, 2013 at 2:35 pm
I don’t know if I would agree that Hester Prynne is a willing feminist. I think she is a feminist by way of her actions which were occasioned due to her love or lust; however, I do not see her believing in her right to her own sexual freedom and expressing it by sleeping with different men according to her whims. She strikes me as being very far from practicing the ars erotica.
In fact, Hester Prynne seems startled and ashamed by her own sexual audacity in breaking free from Puritan repression. She is terrified that Pearl will follow in her footsteps and become a feminist in her own right. Instead, Hester would prefer that Pearl live a more respectable, and consequently repressed, life. As the reader is informed in the conclusion, “None knew- nor ever learned, with the fulness of perfect certainty- whether the elf- child had gone thus untimely to a maiden grave; or whether her wild, rich nature had been softened and subdued, and made capable of a woman’s gentle happiness” (165).