Puritan patriarchal culture in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter

ABSTRACT

Literature is reflection for human life. It can be a media for solving the problems, imaginative field, and the sources of human inspiration. The Scarlet Letter which is written by Nathaniel Hawthorne tells about puritan patriarchal culture in seventeenth century. Furthermore, in this analysis, the writer discusses some Hawthorne's purposes when he creates this novel, one of them can be formulated in: The puritan patriarchal culture in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter.

The writer uses the Kate Millet's theory to support the analysis. That theory includes of her book entitled Sexual Politics. In her book there are two main points which can be applied to support to the analysis. The first is radical feminism which influences Kate Millet' patriarchal point of view, Second, are eight points which has an important role for the patriarchal system. They are: ideology, biology sociology, class, economic and education, force, anthropology (myth and religion) and psychology. Exactly, they have the relation to influence each other, or in other words they cannot stand alone.

The results of this analysis can be discussed about puritan patriarchal culture that is shown in The Scarlet Letter. The example can be found as follow: relate to religion and myth in Millet's theory, in the puritan patriarchal culture, there is a serious problem in the church, especially clergyman who is hypocritical person. Actually there are many people who have ever done the sinful action, but they can cover their sin by denying to make the sinful and pretense as a holy person. But, God always knows the truth, mankind must hate the sin, but they do not permit to hate the sinner, because every men and women ever do the evil action. The mankind should hark back to each other. The next example that relate to economics as one of Millet's theory, there are difficulties, differences and obstacles for women to get a job and also women are burdened by two responsibilities which make their life cannot develop, they are work and care their family.

This analysis is aimed at enriching the theoretical basis of literary studies, especially those are related to the feminist literary criticism-radical feminism and expected to be the alternative information for the other students in conducting the similar analysis.