Womens' Roles in The Blithedale Romance

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Blithedale Romance suggests certain roles which women should adhere to. More specifically, the two prominent female characters, Priscilla and Zenobia, are prime examples of ways in which women were regulated and restricted by their roles. As Zenobia and Priscilla are two very opposite characters, one may see how their actions reinforce their womanly roles. By comparing and contrasting Priscilla to Zenobia one may gain a sense of what things were expected of women and what was not in Blithedale.
“The Cult of True Womanhood,” as described by Barbara Welter, is made up of four pillars which constitute what it means to be a true woman. Piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity make up these four pillars. Thus, Priscilla and Zenobia alike are received as either fitting into these categories or not. Consequently, Zenobia does not adhere to each of these four pillars, while Priscilla may in fact be the very essence of true womanhood.
In contrast to Priscilla, Zenobia may be described as enigmatic, exotic, strongly spoken, manipulative, and beautifully dark. Priscilla, on the other hand, is a shy, ethereal, secluded seamstress who is very soft spoken. Obviously Priscilla is pious, submissive, pure, and domestic. Yet, if Priscilla fits into the categories a woman was expected to, while Zenobia is deviant, why is it that Zenobia is described as a beautiful, strong woman?
I assert that Nathaniel Hawthorne is subtly pointing out some of the flaws with the roles of women in his “Blithedale Romance.” This is to say that Hawthorne has constructed two female characters; Zenobia is on one end of the spectrum of womanhood, while Priscilla is on the other end, embodying everything a woman was expected to be. Further, I believe Hawthorne has used Zenobia’s suicide as a statement about women and their actions.
As Zenobia was out-spoken, exotic and dark, her death signifies the end of a woman who acted out against her social restraints. Contrarily, Priscilla’s intact life shows us that the woman who adheres to the pillars of womanhood lives on. Thus, the deviant character dies and her actions loose significance, while Priscilla, the model woman, lives on and carries on tradition.