Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic, The Scarlet Letter, has become one of the most discussed novels of all time. Much of the controversy stems from the obvious gender issues throughout the story. Considering the setting of seventeenth-century Boston, the plot takes place in a conservative Puritan society. This is why Hester Prynne, the protagonist, spends the seven years in which the book takes place, dealing with the repercussions of what she believes to be a "crime" against God and her community. The situation he finds himself in is one that very few people could actually stand. However, she is able to surpass all odds and exceed people's expectations of a "common Puritan woman". The complexity of the story delves into gender equality and the unconventional position this woman occupies in society. Hawthorne is able to depict contrasting gender roles in The Scarlett Letter by illustrating the expected personality of a Puritan woman and directly contrasting that norm with her very complicated and well-developed character, Hester Prynne. It is obvious to the reader that Hester Prynne is not a woman. ordinary women because of her clear defiance of what Puritan society expects. “A community that embodies the qualities of aging public men must necessarily repress those of young men and women,” which has become an unspoken but understood way of life in Salem, Massachusetts (Baym, “Defiance” 90). All women must be submissive and completely respect the word of their husbands. They must not have any self-expression as it is thought to jeopardize the community as a whole. The manifestation of individuality and personal beliefs is seen both as a threat and as a sign of insolence, which is responded to with great severity...... middle of paper ......46. Print.Doren, Mark Van. "Mark Van Doren on Hester Prynne in conflict with her society." Bloom's Notes: The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Ed. Harold Bloom. Broomall: Chelsea House Publishers, 1998. 33-35. Print.Harris, Kenneth Marc. "Kenneth Marc Harris on Hester Prynne's Sexuality." Bloom's Notes: The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Ed. Harold Bloom. Broomall: Chelsea House Publishers, 1998. 61-64. Print.Reynolds, David S. "David S. Reynolds on Hester Prynne as 'Fallen Women'." Bloom's Notes: The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Ed. Harold Bloom. Broomall: Chelsea House Publishers, 1998. 64-67. Print.Reynolds, David S. “Hester and the Feminists of the 1840s.” Social Issues in Literature: Women's Issues in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlett Letter. Ed. Elisabetta Des Chenes. Farmington Hills: Greenhaven Press, 2009. 57-66. Press.