Margaret Drabble's The Millstone and Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter: Feminism and Motherhood

Margaret Drabble’s The Millstone & Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter: Feminism & Motherhood

Abstract:   

It is a misconception that, feminism or any other idea talking about the freedom of the feminine identity, is against or opposes any personal or subjective feminine experience; motherhood being one of them. What can be argued however is that, feminism, and similar concepts oppose or question the normalization and appropriation of motherhood. The fact that motherhood should be a matter of choice for a female identity seems to be the movement’s take on the issue. What problematizes the concept of motherhood is the cultural as well as religious deification, which has happened, and is still happening across cultures. Therefore, texts like The Scarlet Letter and The Millstone become significant. Though both the texts belong to two different times in history, they share a common theme of human relationships as well as female identities as victims of socio-cultural norms regarding motherhood. The aim of this assignment would be to discuss and study those commonalities, between these seemingly feminist texts.

The Millstone (1965):

The novel published more than 50 years ago deals with reworking of the Biblical quotation from Matthew (18:6), in Jesus’ words, “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones who believe in me, it were better that a millstone be hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” Set in the Swinging London of 1960s, The Millstone, tells the story of Rosamund Stacey; a well educated and well-brought-up daughter of middle-class socialists. Rosamund, resembling ‘intelligent, middle-class, young, Englishwomen’, is a character full of ‘shy stiffness’. Not quite adapted to the widely prevailing conception, that one must have a romantic interest at her age; Rosamund makes her friends believe that she’s in a relationship with two men at the same time. However, in reality, “Rosamund’s determined self possession means that she can’t learn how to yield to sex”. (Hadley)

This leads Rosamund to lie to each of her boyfriends that she’s sleeping with the other. Thus, this gives rise to the novel partly resembling to a “comedy of virginity: a rather Elizabethan theme, like something explored by her favourite poets. Only this time it’s written from the inside, by a woman.” (Hadley) Finally, when she is actually attracted to, and falls in love with, a man named George Matthews, she allows him to make love to her.

The child born out of this relationship is named Octavia, after the popular feminist socialist, Octavia Hill, by Rosamund. A widely accepted opinion of the critics is that Octavia is the ‘little one’ mentioned by the Biblical quotation, while Rosamund is the one to be hanged on the millstone. This is where the novel primarily focuses. How does Rosamund deal with her child? Is she a good mother? Would she be able to survive as a single mother? Are the questions which Drabble tries to deal with, in her work. Drabble stated clearly, in one of her interviews in 2011, that, the novel is about “how maternity changes you into something fiercer than you were before.” (Mullan)

At a  time when ‘female cleverness was considered problematic’ Rosamund tries to fight for her child, and coming up as a successful single parent. It so happens that Octavia needs a’ dangerous, life-saving heart operation’. And, although the operation goes well, the matron asks Rosamund to stay away from her child for a fortnight; to which Rosamund disagrees. After the initial tussle, Rosamund starts screaming, which results in the matron finally giving way.

The last scene of the novel captures Rosamund meeting George on the night of Christmas Eve, who visits her apartment later and looks at Octavia. Rosamund decides not to tell George that Octavia is indeed his daughter; which is why she also lies about her age.

The Scarlet Letter & The motherhood of Hester Prynne:

One of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s most popular works, The Scarlet Letter has remained a subject of discussion since the day of its publication. How far is Hawthorne, a feminist, and how far did he succeed in voicing out, the injustices done to the feminine identity, by the socio-cultural norms of his time, is a question with no specific answer. However, our interest lies with the question that how does Hawthorne, being a male writer, has dealt with the idea of motherhood. Does Hester Prynne become fiercer after experiencing maternity, like Drabble’s Rosamund? Or is Hester, somewhere, still not able to fight for herself and her child?

Of course, Hester is a great mother, when it comes to taking care of her child. She is a mother who teaches her child to always stay strong in the face of struggle; a mother who teaches that no matter what happens, one must always fight for what one believes to be right, and that “no amount of public shame can diminish what is inside you” (Brooks) Particularly the words: “This badge hath taught me — it daily teaches me —it is teaching me at this moment — whereof my child may be the wiser and the better.”

However, considering the Puritan setting of the novel, Hester’s image of a strong single mother, is represented by Hawthorne, as one resembling ‘Divine Maternity’ or ‘the sacred image of sinless motherhood’. And we are instantly reminded of the deification of a female identity through motherhood. Hester, therefore, according to Hawthorne, resembles the Virgin Mary; both literally and metaphorically. However, this divinity doesn’t foreshadow the writer’s narrative regarding Hester’s sin of Adultery. For Hawthorne, Hester’s act of adultery, was, ‘the taint of deepest sin in the most sacred quality of human life’. Thus, Hawthorne makes it very clear that, “the sin that Hester has committed is only a crime because society deems it so” (Stroud)

Rosamund & Hester: Feminist Motherhood

Feminism as mentioned earlier, has always advocated to treat the feminine identity as fundamentally human; instead of the normative habit of the socio-cultural denominators to understand ‘Her’ as either a Goddess or a Witch. Feminism urges people to come out of these binaries. Considering this, one can argue that Drabble seems to be more convincing and successful in portraying fundamentally a human mother; instead of deifying her as Hawthorne did. Although Rosamund has many faults, her strength appears relatable; unlike Hester’s who is attributed some supernatural  aura of Divinity. However, it is eaqually true, that one can’t deny the fact that Hester’s struggles are greater than that of Rosamund’s. Rosamund doesn’t face public shaming like Hester does. This can be considered why Hawthorne employs such supernatural and divine aura to surround Hester. Hester, as a single parent (specifically a single mother) is quite ahead of her times, when it comes to thoughts and opinions. She doesn’t hide Pearl from Dimmesdale; like Rosamund did from George. The only reason why people think that Hester is an incompetent mother is because she is accused of a crime only they consider as sin. Another note of importance here, is the fact that during Hawthorne’s time, that is during the early days of feminism, “motherhood itself was thought as divine, regardless of the circumstances surrounding it” (Stroud)

Coming down to the 1960s, when Drabble writes, the thought that divinity and religion has always been unjust towards the feminine identity, had been easily understood by the feminists. And therefore, although Drabble plays with the Biblical quotation in her novel, nowhere is she trying to deify or supernaturalize Rosamund’s motherhood. Instead, Rosamund appears very naïve and immature even after she realizes that she’s pregnant. She also tries to avoid pregnancy; unlike Hester who considered Pearl as a symbol of love.

Conclusion:

What would have happened if Rosamund and Hester switched places? Well, the situation and narrative would remain the same, but their responses would have changed the narratives. Hester might have felt herself more powerful and would have raised Pearl in an even better way than she does in The Scarlet Letter. As for Rosamund, she might have found herself defeated infront of the society, considering the fact that she was already unsure about giving birth to the baby in the first place. However, these are all vague assumptions. Both the characters, are eually strong in their appeal to the reader. Both of them urge us to stop making generalizations and stereotyping the feminine identity. Both of them serve as examples for the society to think beyond the binaries which have done nothing but hanging humans (specifically females) on the “Millstone”. The divine, which we believe in doesn’t prove its existence in the way we understand. So why should we believe?

Works Cited

Brooks, Caryn. Best and Worsts Moms Ever. 8 May 2008. web. 4 October 2019. <http://content.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1738178_1737704_1737696,00.html>.

Hadley, Tessa. The Millstone- crucial 1960s feminist novel. 15 May 2015. web. 3 October 2019. <https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/may/15/the-millstone-the-crucial-1960s-feminist-novel>.

Mullan, John. The Millstone by Margaret Drabble. 26 March 2011. web. 4 October 2019. <https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/mar/26/the-millstone-margaret-drabble-readers-responses>.

Stroud, Molly. The Virgin Mary: Hester Prynne as a Symbol of Divine Motherhood. 1 October 2018. web. 4 October 2019. <https://owlcation.com/humanities/The-Virgin-Mary-Hester-Prynne-as-a-Symbol-of-Divine-Motherhood>.