Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter was considered by many to be the controversial novel of its time, given its themes of pride, sin, and revenge. It was also set in a time when very few thought about equality between men and women, but Hawthorne managed to bring gender inequality to light through the novel's puritan, male-dominated setting and by reversing the characters' gender roles , as in the roles of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale. Therefore, I am convinced that this novel's religious setting in Puritan society allowed for further emphasis on the profound differences between the characters' gender roles, thus creating a deeper contrast and revealing the flaws of the Puritan's preconceived notions. of patriarchal social norms. "The Scarlet Letter" illustrates the lives of Hester Prynne, her daughter Pearl, local preacher Arthur Dimmesdale, and Hester's husband (who uses the pseudonym Roger Chillingworth to disguise his true identity) and how they are affected after Hester commits an adulterous act with Dimmesdale, thus conceiving Pearl. This mother and her son are then ostracized by society and Hester is sentenced to prison, forced to wear a scarlet “A” on her chest as a symbol of her sin. The novel continues to tell the story of the four characters over the next few years, until Hester dies and is buried near Chillingworth (who had previously died), both sharing a letter "A" on their headstones. Religion and law were considered almost synonymous in Puritan society, as demonstrated by the "same solemnity of behavior" among spectators, "as befitted a people among whom religion and law were almost identical" when Hester emerged from her prison cell. prison. Even the… medium of paper… ownership of his sin, gradually reducing his position as a virtuous minister to a pathetic man who desperately begs Hester to reveal her sin to him instead. While Hester faced her punishment with grace and dignity, Dimmesdale obviously struggled to no avail with his guilt. Therefore, the contrast created between the two characters shows the unshakable strength of female value, in the face of Dimmesdale's "unmanly" actions. Even more, Hester's admission of her sin "made her strong[er]" and earned her community respect, while Dimmesdale was "brought down by long and exquisite suffering," a mere shell of the man he was state. The respect Hester gained from this highly puritanical and patriarchal society attests to the innate strength of women regardless of the preconception of their inferiority. Works Cited The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne