Female Archetypal Will in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Rani Manicka’s The Rice Mother, and Sophie Treadwell’s Machinal

Abstract

This paper examines literary archetypes as symbolical representations of real people in fiction in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Rani Manicka’s The Rice Mother, and Sophie Treadwell’s Machinal. They carry on the human perception of natural or human phenomenon. Feminism is one of the most resonating archetypal issues in literature. The depiction of women suffering and hardships is a central question aroused by critics who deal with the issue of female identity; and how female can prove strong in patriarchal societies. Women suffering could also provide new perceptions of female position and its possible elevation. Therefore, literary archetypes offer a sound and compelling image of females in literary works. In this regard, the perception of women in hard conditions would result in probable solutions for their bad conditions. Such conditions are caused by society which does not attend to women’s needs and practice marginalization against them. However, women can be strong enough to support their families and break the traditional judgement of them as inferior to men. Accordingly, fiction is one possible way of exposing women’s tremendous will to change their position in society. Thus, the purpose of this essay is to study women heroic will to in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter (1850), Rani Manicka’s The Rice Mother (2002), and Sophie Treadwell’s Machinal (1993). The heroines of these works have a strong will be prove their position as being capable of doing men’s stuff, such as work and family support.

Key Words: Archetype, Feminism, Heroism, Repression, Scapegoat

DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/66-09

Publication date:March 31^st 2020