In Hawthorne’s short stories he seems to be obsessed with women’s beauty. In Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil” he states, “Spruce bachelors looked sidelong at the pretty maidens, and fancied that the Sabbath sunshine made them prettier than on weekdays” (10). Some critics think he is lifting up women and there beauty. However, some believe he is attacking women perfectionism. “In Hawthorne’s analysis the idealization of women stems from a vision as them as hideous and unnatural; it is a form of compensation, and an attempt to bring them up to the level of nature” (Fetterley, 167). Hawthorne was married to a very beautiful

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short stories can be interpreted in many ways. Some critics believe he is not in accord with mid-nineteenth century point of view towards women’s rights. “Hawthorne’s insistence in his story on the metaphor of disguise serves as both warning and clue to a feminist reading” (Fetterley, 165). Others believe he is putting women on a pedestal. “The momentary circumstance was too strong for him; he failed to look beyond the shadowy scope of time, and, living once for all in eternity, to find the perfect future in the present” (Hawthorne, 54). Hawthorne had a long and happy marriage with his wife, Sophia. This could explain some critics reasoning for his appraisal of women. Hawthorne’s dismal experience with his mother could also explain critics’ interpretation of his view to attack women. “It is women as wife, who elicits the obsession with imperfection and the compulsion to achieve perfection, just as it is man as husband, who is thus obsessed and compelled” (Fetterley, 165).

all females. Fetterley states, “There are compensations, however, for as an adult he has access to a complex set of mechanisms for accomplishing the Great American dream of eliminating women” (164). However, it could be looked at as if he is trying to perfect all females. “What repels Aylmer is Georgiana's sexuality; what is imperfect in her is the fact that she is female; and what perfection means is elimination” (Fetterley, 166). Aylmer seems to be trying to kill his wife but do it in a way so it makes it look like he is trying to help her. “It is a testimony at once to Hawthorne’s ambivalence, his seeking to cover with one hand what he uncovers with the other, and to the persu

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