Citation

Mishra, A. (2026). Punishing Desire: Female Adultery and Patriarchal Justice from Puritan America to Modern India. Journal for Studies in Management and Planning, 12(1), 75–78. https://doi.org/10.26643/jsmap/2026/4

Dr. Aparna Mishra

English

Bhopal, India

Email: aparnaamishra24@gmail.com

Abstract

Adultery has historically functioned as a deeply gendered moral category, with women subjected to harsher scrutiny, punishment, and social regulation than men. This paper undertakes a comparative feminist analysis of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and A Married Woman by Manju Kapur to examine how patriarchal societies across two distinct eras and cultures discipline female sexual transgression. Although separated by more than a century, divergent cultural contexts, and different narrative modes, both novels reveal a striking continuity in the moral double standards governing adultery. Female desire is rendered visible, punishable, and socially destabilising, while male transgression is concealed, excused, or institutionally protected. The paper argues that adultery in these texts functions less as a moral failing and more as a mechanism through which patriarchal authority asserts control over female autonomy. By analysing public punishment, moral surveillance, and gendered accountability, this study demonstrates how patriarchal justice adapts its methods while preserving its fundamental logic.

Keywords: adultery, gendered morality, patriarchy, feminist criticism, Hawthorne, Manju Kapur

1. Introduction

Across cultures and historical periods, adultery has rarely been judged as a gender-neutral transgression. Instead, it has functioned as a moral fault line along which societies articulate anxieties about female sexuality, social order, and institutional authority. While male sexual transgressions are often treated as private indiscretions or psychological lapses, female adultery is repeatedly framed as a public threat demanding social correction.

This paper examines the persistence of this gendered double standard through a comparative reading of The Scarlet Letter (1850) and A Married Woman (2003). Despite their vastly different contexts—Puritan New England and modern urban India—both novels expose how patriarchal societies punish female desire while shielding male authority. The comparison reveals not moral evolution but ideological continuity: patriarchy alters its methods of regulation without relinquishing control.

Indian and Western feminist critics alike have noted that sexuality remains one of the most tightly regulated aspects of women’s lives. As Elaine Showalter observes, women’s writing frequently documents “the painful process of becoming conscious” rather than triumphant emancipation (13). In both Hawthorne and Kapur, adultery becomes the narrative moment where such consciousness collides with institutional power.

2. Adultery, Patriarchy, and Moral Regulation: A Theoretical Framework

Feminist theory has consistently identified sexuality as a central site of patriarchal control. Simone de Beauvoir argues that society treats male sexuality as an act, while female sexuality is treated as destiny, thereby burdening women with enduring moral consequences for sexual transgression (The Second Sex 411). Adultery thus becomes less an ethical breach than a mechanism for enforcing gender hierarchy.

Michel Foucault’s analysis of sexuality as a domain regulated through surveillance rather than mere prohibition is particularly instructive here. He contends that power operates most effectively when it is internalised, functioning through confession, guilt, and moral normalisation (History of Sexuality 94). This framework allows for a comparative understanding of how Puritan America’s public punishment evolves into modern India’s moral containment.

Gerda Lerner further argues that the institutional regulation of female sexuality is foundational to patriarchy itself (198). Whether through law, religion, or respectability politics, women’s desire is consistently framed as socially dangerous. These insights provide the conceptual basis for examining adultery not as personal failure but as patriarchal justice in action.

3. Public Punishment and Spectacle in The Scarlet Letter

In The Scarlet Letter, adultery is constructed as a public crime requiring ritualised punishment. Hester Prynne’s transgression is immediately translated into spectacle: she is displayed on the scaffold, branded with the scarlet “A,” and subjected to continuous communal surveillance.

The letter is not merely punitive but symbolic. Hawthorne describes it as having “the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity” (53). Hester’s body becomes a moral text, permanently marked and socially isolated. The punishment extends beyond legal sanction into daily existence, transforming her identity into a cautionary emblem.

Feminist critics have argued that Hester’s punishment is designed less to reform her than to stabilise a patriarchal order threatened by female autonomy. Nina Baym notes that Hester’s suffering functions as “a warning rather than a correction” (88). The public nature of her punishment ensures that female desire remains visible and regulated.

4. Male Guilt and Institutional Immunity

While Hester’s punishment is public and corporeal, Arthur Dimmesdale’s suffering is private and psychological. Although equally culpable, Dimmesdale retains his social authority as a minister. Hawthorne observes that his anguish was “of the inward sort, and therefore the more terrible” (129), a statement that transforms guilt into spiritual depth.

This narrative sympathy exposes the moral asymmetry of patriarchal justice. Dimmesdale’s silence is interpreted as complexity and suffering, while Hester’s silence is read as defiance. Judith Butler’s concept of gendered accountability is useful here: women are required to “give an account of themselves,” while men retain moral opacity (Giving an Account of Oneself 42).

Thus, male transgression is internalised and humanised, whereas female transgression is externalised and criminalised. Patriarchal justice operates not through equal law but through differential visibility of punishment.

5. Moral Surveillance and Emotional Containment in A Married Woman

In A Married Woman, adultery is no longer a legal offence but remains a moral one. Kapur shifts the terrain of punishment from public spectacle to internalised surveillance. Astha’s extra-marital relationship does not invite public condemnation, but it subjects her to intense emotional scrutiny and guilt.

Astha recognises that she has “stepped outside the circle” and that return is possible only through denial (214). This statement reveals how modern patriarchy disciplines women through silence rather than exposure. Moral containment replaces legal punishment, yet the burden remains gendered.

Astha’s husband, Hemant, faces no comparable judgment. His emotional neglect is normalised, while Astha’s desire is treated as excess. Kapur underscores this imbalance when she notes that Astha “carried the burden of feeling too much, while Hemant carried none” (218). As in Hawthorne’s novel, male authority remains intact despite relational failure.

Veena Das observes that such moral containment is characteristic of middle-class respectability, where women’s transgressions are absorbed through silence rather than confrontation (132). Kapur’s narrative exemplifies this process.

6. Gendered Accountability across Cultures

Despite cultural and temporal differences, both novels expose a shared moral logic. In Puritan America, patriarchal justice operates through law and religious spectacle. In modern India, it functions through respectability politics and internalised guilt. Yet the outcome is identical: female desire is punished, male authority preserved.

Adrienne Rich’s concept of compulsory heterosexuality is relevant here. She argues that marital fidelity operates as a system ensuring women’s emotional and sexual compliance (648). Both Hester and Astha threaten this system, not merely through adultery, but through the assertion of autonomous desire.

Thus, adultery becomes a site where patriarchy reveals its deepest anxieties. It is not fidelity that is protected, but control.

7. Continuity Rather Than Progress

The comparative reading challenges narratives of linear feminist progress. While modern society abandons physical branding, it retains moral regulation. Hester is publicly marked; Astha is privately contained. One suffers spectacle, the other silence. Yet both are disciplined for destabilising male-centred institutions of marriage and authority.

Foucault’s insight that power adapts rather than disappears is crucial here. Patriarchal justice evolves in form but not in function. The regulation of female sexuality remains central to social order.

8. Conclusion

This paper has argued that The Scarlet Letter and A Married Woman reveal a persistent gendered double standard in the moral regulation of adultery. Despite differences in historical context, narrative strategy, and cultural background, both novels demonstrate how patriarchal justice punishes female desire while shielding male transgression.

Adultery, in these texts, functions not as a moral absolute but as a diagnostic category through which societies police women’s autonomy. Hester Prynne and Astha do not merely violate marital norms; they expose the fragile foundations of patriarchal morality.

Feminist disillusionment thus emerges not as failure but as critique. By placing these texts in dialogue, the study underscores the enduring nature of gendered moral control and invites a rethinking of adultery as feminist resistance rather than moral deviance.

References

Baym, Nina. Revisiting Hawthorne’s Feminism. Rutgers UP, 2002.

Beauvoir, Simone de. The Second Sex. Translated by H. M. Parshley, Vintage, 1989.

Butler, Judith. Giving an Account of Oneself. Fordham UP, 2005.

Das, Veena. Critical Events: An Anthropological Perspective on Contemporary India. Oxford UP, 1995.

Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality, Volume I. Translated by Robert Hurley, Vintage, 1990.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. Edited by Leland S. Person, Norton Critical Edition, Norton, 2018.

Kapur, Manju. A Married Woman. Penguin India, 2003.

Lerner, Gerda. The Creation of Patriarchy. Oxford UP, 1986.

Rich, Adrienne. “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence.” Signs, vol. 5, no. 4, 1980, pp. 631–660.

Showalter, Elaine. A Literature of Their Own. Princeton UP, 1977.

Dr. Aparna Mishra

English

Bhopal, India

Email: aparnaamishra24@gmail.com

Abstract

Education is widely conceptualised within feminist theory and social-development discourse as a transformative instrument capable of enabling women’s empowerment, autonomy, and social mobility. In the Indian context, however, literary narratives frequently complicate this assumption by revealing the emotional, cultural, and structural consequences of education for women situated within rigid caste and gender hierarchies. This paper examines education as a site of feminist disillusionment in Bama’s Karukku and Manju Kapur’s Difficult Daughters and A Married Woman. It argues that while education sharpens feminist consciousness and ethical awareness, it often intensifies social and emotional marginalisation when institutional and cultural structures remain unchanged. By integrating literary analysis with feminist social theory, the study demonstrates that education often produces awareness without emancipation, exposing the gap between developmental promises and lived realities. The paper concludes by outlining policy implications for gender and education that emerge from these narratives.

Keywords: women and education, feminist disillusionment, caste and patriarchy, social exclusion, Indian society

1. Introduction

Within international social-studies scholarship, education is consistently positioned as a cornerstone of social progress. Development indices, policy frameworks, and feminist advocacy alike emphasise women’s education as a solution to gender inequality, poverty, and social stagnation. Education is assumed to foster rational agency, economic independence, and democratic participation, thereby enabling women to transcend traditional constraints. However, this assumption presupposes that social institutions are willing and able to absorb the transformed consciousness that education produces. In societies structured by caste hierarchy, patriarchal family systems, and moral regulation of women’s lives, education may heighten awareness without ensuring social acceptance. It is within this contradiction that feminist disillusionment emerges—not as personal despair, but as structural betrayal. Indian women’s writing offers a particularly incisive lens through which to examine this paradox. Rather than celebrating education as an unqualified emancipatory force, many narratives document the emotional, ethical, and social costs of educational awakening. As Elaine Showalter observes, women’s literature often records “the painful process of becoming conscious” rather than triumphant liberation (13).

This paper examines such consciousness in the works of Bama and Manju Kapur. Writing from distinct social locations—Dalit Christian Tamil society and North Indian middle-class Hindu patriarchy—both authors foreground women whose educational attainment intensifies their awareness of injustice without securing belonging or fulfilment. The paper argues that education functions as a paradoxical force: it empowers the mind while isolating the self.

2. Education, Feminism, and the Problem of Structural Limits

Liberal feminist theory has traditionally foregrounded education as a primary route to women’s emancipation. Simone de Beauvoir asserts that women’s subordination persists because they are denied access to institutions that produce autonomy, among which education is central (37). From this perspective, education appears as a corrective capable of dismantling gender inequality.

Yet postcolonial and subaltern feminists challenge the universality of this claim. Education, they argue, does not operate outside power relations; it is embedded within them. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak cautions that access to education does not automatically confer voice or agency, particularly for subjects positioned at the margins of social power. Institutional systems often absorb educated marginal subjects without altering the hierarchies that silence them (Spivak 287).

Dalit feminist scholarship further complicates the narrative of educational empowerment. For Dalit women, education frequently produces heightened awareness of exclusion while leaving caste structures intact. Knowledge becomes a means of recognition rather than escape. Disillusionment, therefore, emerges not from the failure of education itself but from the failure of society to respond to the consciousness education generates.

This theoretical tension provides the framework for the present analysis. In the texts examined, education produces critical consciousness without social legitimacy, resulting in feminist disillusionment.

3. Education and Caste Alienation in Bama’s Karukku

Bama’s Karukku occupies a central position in Dalit feminist literature, offering a searing critique of caste oppression as experienced within educational and religious institutions. Education initially appears as a promise—a means to dignity, equality, and escape from inherited humiliation. As a student, Bama internalises the belief that learning will enable transcendence.

This belief, however, is systematically dismantled. Bama states with stark clarity: “No matter how educated we are, the label of ‘Paraiya’ can never be erased” (Bama 29). This assertion encapsulates the fundamental paradox governing education in the text. Education sharpens awareness of injustice but does not dismantle caste as a social determinant.

Educational spaces, rather than functioning as neutral sites of meritocracy, become arenas where caste prejudice is reproduced. Bama recounts repeated experiences of humiliation within Church-run schools, exposing the hypocrisy of institutions that preach equality while practising discrimination. She observes that “they spoke of love and justice, but treated us as if we were born to be humiliated” (Bama 41).

As is evident from the narrative, education intensifies emotional alienation. The more Bama learns, the more acutely she perceives the injustice surrounding her. Education estranges her not only from dominant institutions but also from her own community, which often discourages questioning as a threat to collective survival. The educated Dalit woman thus occupies a liminal position—critically aware yet socially marginalised.

From a social-studies perspective, Karukku demonstrates the limitations of educational inclusion without structural reform. Education exposes inequality but lacks the institutional authority to dismantle it. Feminist disillusionment here emerges as a rational response to systemic betrayal rather than personal pessimism.

4. Education, Gender, and Nationalist Modernity in Difficult Daughters

Manju Kapur’s Difficult Daughters situates women’s education within the socio-political context of nationalist India, a period that outwardly promoted female education as a symbol of progress and reform. Yet the novel reveals that this promotion was conditional and deeply gendered.

Virmati’s education enables intellectual awakening and feminist questioning. She becomes increasingly dissatisfied with domestic confinement and marriage as destiny. However, this awareness does not translate into autonomy. Reflecting on her educational journey, Virmati recognises that it made her “restless, dissatisfied, and incapable of fitting into the life laid out for her” (Kapur, Difficult Daughters 143).

Education destabilises her social position without providing alternatives. As can be understood from the narrative, educated women are perceived as disruptive rather than empowered. Virmati’s learning threatens patriarchal order, yet the same order refuses to accommodate her aspirations. She becomes a figure of moral anxiety rather than progress.

Kapur thus exposes a central contradiction of nationalist modernity: women’s education is celebrated rhetorically but constrained materially. The educated woman is expected to embody progress without demanding autonomy. Feminist awareness produces isolation rather than solidarity, revealing the emotional cost of consciousness.

5. Education, Sexual Identity, and Emotional Estrangement in A Married Woman

In A Married Woman, Kapur extends the theme of feminist disillusionment by linking education to political and sexual awareness. Astha’s education enables her to engage with art, activism, and alternative forms of intimacy. This expansion of consciousness allows her to perceive the emptiness of her marriage with clarity.

Astha acknowledges that education has given her “the ability to see the emptiness of her marriage clearly” (Kapur, A Married Woman 212). Yet clarity does not produce freedom. As is conveyed in the text, education sharpens perception but does not dismantle the structures that enforce marital conformity.

Astha’s feminist awareness intensifies emotional fragmentation. She becomes increasingly alienated within domestic life, unable to reconcile intellectual fulfilment with social expectation. Education destabilises patriarchal arrangements but leaves her without viable alternatives. This condition reflects what feminist theorists describe as the emotional cost of consciousness—awareness becomes a burden when society lacks the capacity to absorb transformed subjectivities.

6. Comparative Analysis: Awareness without Emancipation

Across Bama and Kapur’s works, education functions as a catalyst for feminist consciousness while simultaneously producing alienation. In Karukku, caste hierarchy renders education socially ineffective. In Kapur’s novels, gendered respectability neutralises its emancipatory potential.

As Elaine Showalter notes, women’s writing frequently records “a struggle for self-definition within structures that deny legitimacy” (19). Education intensifies this struggle by exposing injustice without resolving it. The educated woman becomes hyper-aware of exclusion but remains constrained by institutions unwilling to change.

From a social-studies standpoint, these narratives challenge education-centric models of empowerment. They demonstrate that education, when divorced from structural reform, risks producing disillusionment rather than liberation.

7. Implications for Gender and Education Policy

The literary insights offered by Bama and Kapur carry significant implications for gender-responsive education policy. First, the narratives reveal that access to education alone is insufficient to ensure empowerment. Policies that focus solely on enrolment and attainment must be re-evaluated, as they risk overlooking the lived realities of educated women who remain socially marginalised.

Second, the texts underscore the necessity of addressing structural inequalities alongside educational expansion. In Karukku, caste discrimination persists within educational institutions themselves, suggesting the need for institutional accountability, inclusive pedagogy, and enforceable anti-discrimination mechanisms. Without confronting caste hierarchies, education may amplify awareness without enabling mobility.

Third, Kapur’s novels highlight the gap between educational advancement and social accommodation. Gender-sensitive policy must address not only access but also the social conditions that shape women’s post-educational lives—marriage norms, workplace discrimination, and moral surveillance. Education that disrupts traditional roles without institutional support can intensify emotional vulnerability.

Finally, these narratives emphasise the importance of integrating emotional and ethical dimensions into educational policy. Empowerment must be understood not only in economic terms but also in terms of belonging, dignity, and legitimacy. Feminist disillusionment, as portrayed in these texts, serves as a critical diagnostic tool, revealing where policy promises fail to translate into lived justice.

8. Conclusion

This paper has examined education as a site of feminist disillusionment in the works of Bama and Manju Kapur. While education enhances critical awareness and ethical questioning, it often deepens social and emotional marginalisation when caste hierarchies, gender norms, and institutional resistance remain intact.

Rather than rejecting education, these narratives demand a re-evaluation of its role within social transformation. Education alone cannot guarantee empowerment unless accompanied by systemic change. Feminist disillusionment thus emerges not as failure but as critique—a powerful indicator of the gap between educational promise and social reality.

For international social-studies scholarship, these texts underscore the necessity of coupling educational access with structural reform. Without such integration, education risks producing awareness without emancipation.

References

Bama. Karukku. Translated by Lakshmi Holmström, Oxford UP, 2012.

Beauvoir, Simone de. The Second Sex. Translated by H. M. Parshley, Vintage, 1989.

Kapur, Manju. A Married Woman. Penguin India, 2003.

—. Difficult Daughters. Penguin India, 1998.

Showalter, Elaine. A Literature of Their Own. Princeton UP, 1977.

Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. “Can the Subaltern Speak?” Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture, edited by Cary Nelson and Lawrence Grossberg, U of Illinois P, 1988, pp. 271–313.

Dhand, D. (2016). Representation of subaltern voices in Indian English writings highlighting the narrative of subalternity in women. Research journal of English language and literature, 4(01).

Sharma, P., & Dwivedi, A. K. (2025). Colonial Echoes. Indian Literature, 69(6 (350), 42-49.

Kavitha, T. N. K., & Rajaram, M. (2025). Fragmented Selves and Commodified Bodies: A Posthumanist Exploration of Gender, Identity and Power in Shobhaa De’s Sisters.

Sharma, D. (2017). Insights of Feminist Epistemology in Some Selected Novels of Alice Walker. Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities.