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Hawthorne'sFeminineVoices353imaginativefires. He rejectsthe masculinemilieu in orderto enterthe worldof imaginationand creativity.However,he abjuresthe more acceptable"realistic"form of the novel (ruledin his day by verisimilitude,or "probability"and convention),in favourof a form thathe saw as having more freedomtoindulge in the fantasticand marvelous,freedomto present"thetruthof thehuman heart"in a mannerof his own choosing. HeatherDubrow suggeststhat "if writing in a form that is not in vogue is a way of distinguishingoneself from the dominantliterarycultureof one's age, it can also be a wayof aligning oneself with a subculture,with the rebellioussons who are chalfathers"(13). Inthiscase, Hawthornemaybe aligninglengingthe authoritarianhimself with the rebelliousdaughters-the "scribblingwomen"(he calls himself a "scribbler"at the end of the CustomHouse sketch)-rather than withthe male novelists of his time. In telling the storyof the scarletletter,he haschosen to tell a woman'sstory;and in choosing a "feminine"formto presentit, he has adoptedwhathave come to be thoughtof as "feminine"techniques.This discussionof the CustomHouse sketch,nevertheless,remainsproblematic, for it leaves out a great deal of contraryinformationgiven by thenarrator.The most consistentcharacteristicof the narratoris thathe is rarelyconsistent on any topic. The story could never be mistakenfor a univocalmanifestoof proto-feminism.The narratordoes not simply rejectthe masculine milieu; he leaves it reluctantlyand somewhatbitterly,referringto himself as "decapitated"by the political powers that have ousted him from hismasculineprofession(and symbolicallycastratedhim). Janis Stout notes "in the narrative(234);but the conflict is expressedas more than a simple "duality."A multiplicityof conflicting voices oppositely and convergentlynarratethe story.In entering the "feminine" world of romance, the narratoragrees to give his"predecessor'smemorythe creditwhichwill be rightfullyits due"(44). SincePue's manuscriptis an obvious fiction, this vow may signal an intentiontoattendfaithfullyto historicalrepresentation.He vows, for instance,to be the"representative"of his Puritanancestors while writing his story (27). Headmits that "strongtraits of their naturehave intertwinedthemselves withmine."He wantsto take on their"shame,"andperhapsremove the cursethathas seemingly been laid upon them for theirceaseless oppressionof women(27). He wants to redresshistory's selective remembranceof Puritanseverity, andits neglect of their"betterdeeds, althoughthese were many"(27). Hecalls them "earnest"and "energetic";he appreciatesthe simplicity and seriousness of their morality(59); and he admirestheir attemptat creatingtheThis content downloaded on Tue, 29 Jan 2013 11:15:23 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

3541NT"new Jerusalem."This connection with his past has moved HenryJames tocomment on the narrator'srelationshipwith the Puritanheritage as it pervades the novel:Puritanism,in a word, is there, not only objectively,asHawthornetriedto placeit there,butsubjectivelyas well,notin anyharshnessofI mean,in hisjudgmentof his charactersprejudice,orin theobtrusionof morallesson;butin theveryqualityof his ownvision.(51)At the same time he incorporatesa "Puritanvoice" into his narrative,however, the narratoralso wants to acknowledgethe motivationsand feelings ofcharacterswho have sinned and brokenthe laws of this Puritancommunity.It is the juggling of the multiplevoices, perspectives,and ideologies thatmakes the narrativeof The Scarlet Letterspeak with a feminine sensibility.The narratormaintainsa constantpush-pullrelationshipwith his past, onemoment identifying with his patriarchalancestorsand co-workers,the nextcondemning them. This endless equivocationis the fundamentalnarrativetechnique used throughoutthe novel, as the narratorrarely states anythingfrequentlyallowing a varietyof interpretationsandpointsstraightforwardly,of view (two possible explanationsfor the existence of the rose bush [54];severalreasonsfor the popularityof Hester'sneedlework[77]; threereasonswhy Hester remainsin New England [75]; four explanationsfor the markson Dimmesdale's chest [197]; and innumerable "whether.or."con-structionsliberally pepperedthroughoutthe novel). His narrativeauthoritycertainly"goes off in all directions."If thereis an "authorial"phallogocentricvoice in the narrative,it is not the only-nor even the primary-voice of theomniscient narrative"truth."The many voices and perspectives allow formultipleandeven contradictoryinterpretations,as readerscan choose whichvoice they want to give "authority"or predominance,and which perspective, if any, holds a poetic "truth."The equivocationprominentin the narrationof TheScarlet Letterundermines the logocentricconceptof a singularmeaningandconfoundsa totalizing phallocentricinterpretation;in the logic of binaryopposition,this technique rests decidedly on the feminine side of the scale. Ignoringthe manymeta-discourseequivocationsin the Custom-Housesketch, the story itselfbegins with the narratorofferingus alternativeandheterodoxinterpretations.The narrator'scanonisationof Ann Hutchinsonat the opening of the storyThis content downloaded on Tue, 29 Jan 2013 11:15:23 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Hawthorne'sFeminineVoices355revealsan unorthodoxinclinationfromthe start.He underminesthe ideaofwiththedescriptionof the"practicalnecessities"of thethePuritan"utopia"cemeteryand prison(53). At the doorof the prison-indeed, at the very"thresholdof our narrative"-weare given the imageof the rose bush,asymbolof beauty,contrastingwith the sterncolourlessnessof the Puritanof itslandscape.Weareallowedto chooseforourselveswhichinterpretationorigin we prefer:the supernaturalbelief thatit has sprungup underthe "foot-whichthenarratorassuresus "thereisstepsof thesaintedAnnHutchinson,"fair authorityfor believing,"or the more prosaicexplanationthat it "merelysurvivedout of the sternold wilderness"(54). Obviouslythe latteris thebutthenarratorseemsto preferthemorereasonableandlogicalexplanation;He urgesthereaderto do the samebyformer,moreromanticinterpretation.andby pluckingoneof theflowersfromtherosegivingit a "fairauthority,"bushandpresentingit to the reader,thatit mighteither"symbolizesomesweet moralblossom, thatmay be found along the track,or relieve the darkening close of a tale of humanfrailtyand sorrow"(54). This act, fraughtwithgendersignificance(as mentraditionallygive womenflowers),it couldbesaid, interpellatesthe readerto "readas a woman"andresistover-thematizingthe story in a masculinemanner.By favouringthe supernaturalreadingoverthe logical one, the suggestionin the opening passage of the narrativeprivileges a "poetic truth"of romanceratherthanhistoricalrealism, and a feminine perspectiveratherthan a masculineone.The "Problem" of InterpretationThe constantnarrativeequivocationpresentsobvious problemsfor interpretation-perhaps more clearly to recent critics steeped in the ambiguitiesof receptiontheory,feminism, deconstructionism,and postmodernambivalence, thanto Hawthorne'scontemporaries.Earlycriticswere not as eager torecognise the text's refusalto be interpretedin a singularway.The novel wasalternatelylauded and decried by those critics as a work of either supremedidacticism-whether pro or anti-Puritan--orcomplete immorality,"unfitfor the subjectof literature"(Brownson36). E. A. Duyckinck's great admiration for Hawthorne's"psychologicalromance"comes from its "moral,"which, "thoughsevere, is wholesome, andis a sounderbit of Puritandivinitythan we have been of late accustomedto hear from the degeneratesuccessors of CottonMather. The spiritof his old Puritanancestors,to whom herefers in the preface, lives in Nathaniel Hawthorne"(24-25). In contrast,This content downloaded on Tue, 29 Jan 2013 11:15:23 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

356J NTGeorge Bailey Loringfound thatthe tale "properlyexposed the inhumanityof Puritanism, which repressed the sensuous element in human nature"(Murfin207). GeorgeRipley,in his discussionof the novel's "moral,"comescloser to a modernperspectivein assertingthat"themoralof the story-forit has a moralfor all wise enough to detect it-is shadowedforthratherthanexpressed in a few brief sentences near the close of the volume" (26), but,perhapswisely, Ripley refrainsfrom specifying what this singular"moral"might be.The first critics mentionedseem to have heardonly the "public"voice ofthe narrator,the one seeking to be authorial,direct,and "illustratinga senseof humor."Perhaps,readingas men, they only heardthe masculinevoices inthe narrative.PerhapsRipley hearda more privatenarrativevoice, one underminingthatpublicstanceof masculineauthority.However,even thatpublicvoice was heardto speakcontradictorily-to which the opposing interpretations of Brownson and Duyckinck attest-indicating that the "voices" arenot limited to a simple oppositionof "public"and "private."The narratorisnot merelyjumping back and forthbetween his constrainedPuritanpersonaand a mid-nineteenth-centurymodem thinker.The focalizationis constantlyandprivatevoices and perspectives,as well asshifting among many publicamong the characters.In the opening scene of the novel, the narratorcreatesa point of view for himself throughthe "earlyseverityof Puritancharacter,"throughwhose perspective he imagines the many possible spectacles thatmight be beheld on the scaffold of early PuritanSalem (54). A few pageslater,the narratorimagines how a "Papist"might perceive the woman andchild on the scaffold, as an image of Divine Maternity,"butonly by contrast"since in this image was "the taint of deeper sin in the most sacredqualityof humanlife, workingsucheffect, thatthe worldwas only the darkerfor this woman's beauty,and the more lost for the infantthatshe had borne"(59). This harshjudgment seems straightforwardand "authorial"until oneremembersthatit is focalized throughthe pointof view of the "Papist."Thisdouble-voicedqualityobscuresthe intentof the statement.andperhapsmostpublic,voice-the one whichseemsIn his contemporary,most "authorial"-the narratortendsto generaliseandjudge weenpublicandprivatenarrativevoicesis based on the narrateeimplied by the voice. A privatenarrative,the traditionalareato whichwomenwriterswererelegated,positsa particularnarratee,usually in diary or letter form. The public voice hails a public audience. Itinhabitsthe same narrativelevel as the reader,and can often be seen as anThis content downloaded on Tue, 29 Jan 2013 11:15:23 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

er617). The narratorof TheScarletLetteradmirablyfits Lanser's descriptionof the public narratorwhen he adopts his authorialtendency to generalise andjudge. He speaks directlyto the implied reader,andbecomes overtly generalisingandjudgmentalwhen he characterizestheearly Puritanwomen as stronger,more solid and forceful, and even morebeautifulin their"substantial"way thantheirdescendants-his own femalecontemporaries(55). But in the scene that follows, he undermineshis ownauthorialperspectiveby allowing these "hardvisaged dames"to show themselves harsh, even shrewish, and certainly unattractivein their desire formore extreme punishmentof Hester than that decreed by the magistrates.One "autumnalmatron"assertsthat "atthe very least, they should have putthe brandof a hot iron on HesterPrynne'sforehead"(56). Anotherwoman,"the ugliest as well as most pitiless of these self-constitutedjudges," addsthat"thiswoman has broughtshameupon us all, andought to die" (56). Thenarratorrendershis own diegetic summaryof these women unreliablebypresentingthem mimeticallyas contradictinghis generalisationof early Puritanwomen.Monika Elbertcharacterizesthese post-menopausalwomen as mimicking the patriarchsof theircommunity.They areno longermaternal,andtherefore have no value in a patriarchalsystem, except whatthey can appropriatefor themselves as faux men. They have denied their gender,their maternalpower, and have no recoursein a patriarchalsociety but to adopt masculinepower: "These antagonisticwomen see Hester's sexuality in the way menconventionallyhave viewed it, as a threat"(175), and have dealt with thatthreatby "becomingmoremale,morehard,thanthe toughestpatriarch"(176).The only female voice thatspeaksout sympatheticallyfor Hesteris the youngmotherin the crowd.The unnamed,undescribed,unpresentedbut still present"Puritan"focalizer,whom the narratoroccasionally allows to speak throughhis narrativevoice, must feel some uneasiness before the heartlessnessofmany of the PuritanGoodwives aroundthe scaffold;for, indeed,the narratorhas a man in the crowd chastise the women for theirharshness:"Thatis thehardestword yet! Hush, now, gossips" (56). This anonymous"man in thecrowd"speaksfor the narratoron morethanone level: he silences the womenwho are underminingthe public narrator'sattemptto resurrectthe "betterdeeds"and more noble traitsof the Puritans;at the same time he is the sympathetic,yet socially orthodoxvoice thatcondemnsthe methodand severityof judgment,if not thejudgmentitself. As a characterandnot overt narrativeThis content downloaded on Tue, 29 Jan 2013 11:15:23 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

358JNTvoice, he is partof a mimetic-thus more "objective"-presentation of theharshnessof Puritanjudgment.Raising the "Fallen Woman" to a New ArtJanisStoutobservesthatthe novel's conflictedauthorialvoice challengesthe patriarchalstereotypeof the fallen woman and the Puritantreatmentofher, but never questions the reality of Hester's sin or guilt. She hears noironyor double-voicedqualitywhen the narratorspeaksof Hester'ssin, guiltand shame, and asserts that "howeverstronglyhe may deplore the narrowness and insensitivity of the self-righteousPuritansystem, he must chooselaw over the tracklesswildernessof moralchaos"(237). Althoughthe narrator seems to abhortheirmethods,he seems fundamentallyin agreementwiththe Puritanphilosophy,and thus, in Stout's view, he "cannotleave unchallenged the radicalsocial ideas he attributesto her"(238). Stout does not citea page numberor state specifically to which passage she is referring,but thefollowing excerpt seems to be an appropriateexample to highlightthe contreatmentof Hesterandherradicalism.flicted natureof the author/narrator'sIt is the strongest of several passages in which Hester voices passionate,unorthodoxopinions and feelings, and which the narratorconsistently follows with a seemingly negativejudgment.While the narrator'schallenge toHester's radicalsocial ideas may seem authorialbecause of theirplacementimmediatelyfollowing Hester'sthought-and, therefore,carrythe authorityof "thelast word"-these judgmentsarenot only ambiguous,butare heavilyoutweighed by the narrator'sassignmentof an eloquentpassion in the freeindirect-discourseblend of his and Hester'svoice (italics indicatingFID aremy ermind,withreferenceto the whole raceof womanhood.Wasexistenceworth accepting, even to the happiest among them?As con-cernedher own individualexistence,she had long ago decidedin thenegative,anddismissedthepointas settled.(134)Subsequentto this passage aboutHester'sinnerturmoil,the narratorprovides a generalisationabout women. It is writtenin the presenttense, making Hestera le readers to agree, while creating a kind of sympatheticunderstandingfor malereaders:This content downloaded on Tue, 29 Jan 2013 11:15:23 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Hawthorne'sVoicesFeminine359A tendencyto speculation,thoughit maykeepwomanquiet,asit doesman,yet makeshersad.Shediscerns,it maybe suchahopelesstaskbeforeher.As a firststep,the wholesystemofsocietyis to be torndown,andbuiltup anew.Then,the verynatureof comelikenature,is to be essentiallymodified,beforewomancanbe allowedto assumewhatseemsa fairandsuitableposition.(134)This passage, commonly attributedto Hester,is quite clearly spoken by thenarrator;it is he who voices the radicalideas, in a profoundempathy withHester'sstateof mind,andwith the perception,as suggestedin the passage,ofwomen in general.He is addinghis own voice to her complaint-not in theambiguousformof freeindirectdiscourse,butplainlyin his "public"personagivingit the the revolutionarypassagefocuses not on Hester'sradicalideas, but on her ostitsregularandhealthyof mind;throb,wanderedwithouta clew in the darklabyrinthnowturnedasideby aninsurmountableprecipice;nowstartingbackfroma r,anda homeandcomfortnowhere.Attimes,a fearfuldoubtstroveto possesshersoul,whetherit werenotbettertosendPearlat onceto heaven,andgo herselfto etletterhadnotdoneits office.(134)Beginning with the word "thus,"the narratorsubsumeshis radicalsympathywith Hester undera generalguise of psychonarration-implyingthat he hasbeen merelypresentingHester'sthoughtsall along.The public "Puritannarrastatementof judgment,distor,"with a simple, if not exactly straightforward,avows the fragile sympathyhis alter("Other")ego created.This "public"persona aligns himself with the Puritanpatriarchalsystem in judging Hesternotonly as a sinnerbut as a revolutionary;but the moreprivateor subversivenarratorhas unquestionablyshownhis allegiancewithHester'sradicalism,even ifhe is conflictedaboutthe moralnatureof the "sin"thathelpedproduceit.This content downloaded on Tue, 29 Jan 2013 11:15:23 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

360JNTWhile severalcriticshave noted that"itis throughHester'svoice.,. thatHawthornespeaks as a revolutionary"(Martin128), an even more tangiblesubversionis enactedthroughHester's silence and non-verbalcommunication. The narrativecalls attentionto the "feminine"discourseof silence andgives it a power as greator greaterthanthe logos of patriarchy.Herrefusaltoname the fatherof her child confounds the leaders of the community.Thisrefusalto be boundto a "father,"even if beyond the laws of marriage,givesHestera greaterindividuality.She does not conformto an acceptablemodelof womanhoodthatreflects the man to whom she might belong; she belongsto no man in her community,and thus projectsher own meaning. She belongs to the communityas a whole-as the negativeexample,as the abjected,sin-infected "other"-but, in the eyes of the community,she is no man'swife, sister, mother,daughter.She is simply Hester Prynne, wearer of thescarletletter.The letterthey have "sentenced"herto wear attemptsto defineher as a transparentsign-as a transgressorof man's laws, if not as a lawfulreflectorof a man. The attempt,however, backfires-Hester's needle subverts the interpretivecode.ShariBenstock observes thatHester'sembroidery"makesa spectacle offemininity,of female sexuality,of all thatPuritanlaw hopes to repress"(289).Hester subverts the patriarchalsign by adding a non-linguistic femininesubtextto it, makingthe symbol standfor "woman."Patriarchallaw effectively defines woman as the "outlaw"or "other,"and withinpatriarchallanguage, she can rarely find the words to defend herself. In representing"woman,"Hester's sign does not simply brandwomen as "other,"but condemns patriarchyand its system of languagefor its inabilityto express a

Scarlet Letter as a Woman Suzan Last A great deal of recent criticism of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter has focused on the two general areas of narrative theory and feminism. Femi- nist readings of the novel have abounded since Nina Baym opened the sub- ject up to debate