Comprasion of the Life Stories of The Scarlet Letter’s Heroine Hester Prynne and Public Figure Monica Lewinsky

Abstract

This paper demonstrates, through The Scarlet Letter’s Hester Prynne, and public figure Monica Lewinsky, the effect that public perception and opinion can have on the actions that people take. This paper shows points of comparison between the two women's situations, and also shows the similarities in their actions following their scandals. Both of these women were involved in public scandals and faced heavy shaming from the public (mainly through the form of slut-shaming). Both women also took almost indistinguishable steps to deal with the public shaming. They both tried to run away from their actions, took up similar coping mechanisms, and used their pain and hurt to help others. This paper expounds upon the tragic life that each of these women led, and how public and slut-shaming can affect a person for the rest of their life. In addition, it explains the saving grace of both of these women, and how they managed to stay strong in the toughest times.
Keywords: slut-shaming, scandal, Lewinsky, Hester, public shaming

Slut-Shaming and Its Effects: A Modern-Day Hester Prynne

In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is judged and shamed to no end by not only the people in her community, but also by visitors to her community. This can be seen in the “The Market-Place” chapter of the novel. The way she is seen and shamed by the public from even before the first scaffold scene, to the end of her life, affects all of her actions throughout the novel. Public perceptions can still be seen to affect people's actions in very similar ways. A perfect demonstration of this, in modern-day society, is Monica Lewinsky. Lewinsky is similar to Hester not only in the shame she faced from the public from her scandal, but also in the way she reacted and chose to deal with the scandal. Both Lewinsky and Hester, after the shaming, tried to run away from what they had done, took up similar coping methods, and used their pain to help others. Lewinsky and Hester also had one more thing in common: they managed to stay strong during the toughest of times because of the positive people that surrounded them.

Public Perception of Both Women

Both Hester and Lewinsky’s saving graces were part of their family and showed little to no judgment of their actions. The public, however, had a bit of a different view of these women. Hester Prynne and Monica Lewinsky were both a part of very similar sex scandals. Hester was married, and had a sexual relationship with Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, and became impregnated (Hawthorne, 2003). Following this, she was thrown into jail and shamed in the market-place in front of the entire town (Hawthorne, 2003). Hester was the one character, throughout the novel, that the public consistently villainized. The reader may perceive her as more of a victim depending on their views, however, the public makes her out to be a villain. This can be seen throughout the dialogue between the townspeople during “The Market-Place” chapter. One of the older female townspeople states, “‘If the hussy stood up for judgment before us five… would she come off with such a sentence as the worshipful magistrates have awarded? Marry, I trow not!’” (Hawthorne, 2003, pg. 44). This is just one example of the cruel things that the older women said about Hester while she was on the scaffold. These women do not think highly of Hester at all and, at one point during “The Market-Place” chapter, they say that she should be killed for her crime. While she was unaware of the negative comments being made about her, she was getting severely slut-shamed in the crowd by these women. Even though she can’t directly hear the things these women are saying, she still feels the intense shame that all of the town is laying on her. This first scaffold scene establishes the way the public views her and establishes Hester’s actions throughout the rest of the novel. Even towards the end of the novel, it can be seen how the public still perceives Hester in that intensely shameful light. In “The Procession” chapter, the narrator tells the audience that all eyes are again on Hester, some old, but most new, and they are judging her in the same way, and she is feeling all of those same feelings as before.

Monica Lewinsky was viewed very similarly by the public. She was involved in a sexual relationship with former President Bill Clinton, who was married at the time (Kedmey, 2013). At the time of the scandal, and still, now, Lewinsky was slut-shamed, bullied, and villainized by the media. In a Barbara Walters interview in 1999, she asked Lewinsky (in reference to one of the details of Clinton and Lewinsky’s relationship): “Where did you get the nerve? I mean - who does that?” (The New York Times, 1999). This excerpt, along with many others from different interviews at the time, shows exactly what the public thought about her. She’s even referred to on one website as having “left a stain on Bill Clinton’s presidency.” (Rasmussen Reports, 2015). Just around the time of the scandal, the internet was beginning to become a bigger thing (Torgovnick, 2015). In Lewinsky’s case, this was very damaging. She recounts her experience on the internet during a TED Talk about public and slut-shaming by saying, “I was branded as a tramp, tart, slut, whore, bimbo, and, of course, ‘that woman.’” (Torgovnick, 2015). It can be seen that in each time period that Hester and Lewinsky lived in, they were seen in very similar ways by the public.

Actions Due to Public Perceptions

In both cases of Monica Lewinsky and Hester Prynne, the way that the public perceived them and treated them had a tremendous effect on their actions and the way that their stories have played out. Both of their actions that they took following their public shaming are very similar, and excellent representations of how public shame and views can affect the things that people do. These women had a common response to all of the judgment they were subjected to. They tried to run away.

Running Away From Their Actions

Both Hester and Lewinsky are seen trying to run away from their actions at some point in their lives. For Hester, it came towards the end of the novel. Despite being excited to run away with Pearl and Dimmesdale, it fell through in “The Procession” chapter. This, however, was not her last attempt to leave her home. In the “Conclusion” chapter, following the death of Roger Chillingworth, the audience is led to believe she moved out of the country. In the same chapter, she was still seen back in the same town, in the same house, wearing the same scarlet letter. Lewinsky also attempted a very similar approach in aims to try to escape all of the shame the public had subjected her to. Lewinsky is frequently asked by the media if she is going to change her name (Fottrell, 2019). Lewinsky states she decided against this, because people were still always going to recognize her and relate her back to the scandal anyway (Fottrell, 2019). Kedmey states that Lewinsky also moved out of the country for a brief period in time to obtain her degree, but returned shortly after to her home country (2013). In the cases of both Lewinsky and Hester, they tried to run away from their actions and the shame they had made for themselves. And in both cases, running away didn’t work, and they still came back.

Coping Mechanisms

Another parallel that can be made between these women is the coping mechanisms that they used. To cope with the shame they faced from the public and themselves, they used a couple of different methods (some of them healthy, and some of them not so healthy). The first is their love of textiles and working with textiles. In the novel, the narrator goes into large descriptions about Hester’s embroidery. It’s seen throughout the chapter, “Hester at Her Needle,” that embroidery is something that she uses to express herself, provide for herself and her daughter, and get reacquainted back into the community and with the public. Similarly, to cope with the stress of the impeachment, Lewinsky knitted to calm herself down (Kedmey, 2013). Both of these women took something positive that they loved, and used it to better themselves.

Using Their Experience to Help Others

In both the cases of Lewinsky and Hester, they used everything they experienced in their times of shame and hurt to help others grow and recover. It is stated in the “Conclusion” chapter that Hester uses her experiences to give others advice. In the chapter, “Hester at Her Needle,” she is also seen embroidering for others in the town and giving whatever she has left over to the poor. She used experiences that came from a place of great pain, and used them to help others. The concluding chapter of the novel states it best: “And, as Hester Prynne had no selfish ends… people brought all their sorrows and perplexities, and besought her counsel.” (Hawthorne, 2003, pg. 215). Lewinsky can also be seen using her pain and shame for the good of others. Following the scandal, it took her a little while to get back on her feet. Lewinsky states she was denied multiple jobs because of her “celebrity” status (2014). Finally, she decided that she wanted to help people who went through similar things as she did during the scandal. As previously mentioned, she set out to England to get her degree in social psychology in 2006 (Kedmey, 2013). According to Stump, she also launched an anti-bullying campaign and released a powerful PSA demonstrating the effects of cyberbullying ( 2019). She used all of the pain she had felt at that point in her life, and is now currently using it to attempt to help kids around the country.

How Familial Relationships Saved Them

While public perception is something that is emphasized a lot in each of these women’s lives, but there are so many people in their lives that pulled them out of their darkest times. In regards to Hester, there was always one person who she knew would be there for her. As a reminder of what she had done, and what she can do better. Hester stated in “The Elf-Child and the Minister” chapter that her daughter was her biggest curse, but also her biggest blessing. More than once Pearl saved Hester from darkness and evil. This was illustrated in the aforementioned chapter when Hester states her only reasoning for not selling her soul was that she has to keep watch over her daughter. Hester was able to keep sane throughout the novel, through the shame and the hurt and the judgment, because she had her daughter. While Hester had Pearl to save her, Lewinsky had her mother. Lewinsky stated: “She [Lewinsky’s mother] was replaying those weeks when she stayed by my bed, night after night, because I, too, was suicidal.” (2014). Lewinsky was able to live and grow and become successful because she had her mother by her side, watching over her, making sure that she would wake up the next morning. Public judgment can destroy people, but love can aid in building people back up to be even better than before.

Conclusion

Hester Prynne and Monica Lewinsky are women that laid pretty low before both of their scandals. Following their scandals, however, they were the talk of the town and, in Lewinsky’s case, the country. By the public, there was very little compassion shown for these women. Throughout their stories, some have helped to save these women (like Lewinsky’s mother and Hester’s daughter), but most have been unaccepting and shaming. Lewinsky and Hester were made out to be villains in their communities. Lessons to be learned from. Something to make others feel better about their own lives. But rarely were these women viewed with the warm touch of humanity.

Despite all the shame they were subjected to feel, these women handled the situations that they were thrown into with a surprising amount of grace. Yes, they tried to run away from the shame they were facing. However, they either didn’t end up running away, or came back from where they were running, and faced their shame head-on. They used healthy coping mechanisms to deal with their struggles. They took all of the pain they were feeling, and they used it for the betterment of others. The way that the public views people and treats people does have an effect on people’s actions. In the case of these women, they didn’t let shame stop them from doing good. That’s what is so beautiful about both of their stories: they are simply stories of two women who were faced with immense struggles and difficulties, and came out the other side even brighter than before.