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摘 要作为19世纪美国著名的浪漫主义小说家纳撒尼尔霍桑的代表作，《红字》在世界文学宝库中具有重要地位。它开启了象征小说成为一个独立文学品种的先河。《红字》讲述白兰和狄姆斯戴尔之间的通奸罪对他们各自情感、心理造成的影响，以及奇利沃思对他们两人的报复。本文通过对红字不同象征意义，主要主人公的象征意义及故事背景的象征意义的分析，使读者能更好的理解象征主义手法，深刻了解小说的每一个主人公和他们所处的社会环境。24984
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毕业论文关键词：红字；象征手法；罪恶；通奸
Contents
摘 要 i
Abstract ii
I. Introduction 1
II. The Changes of the Symbolic Meaning of the Letter A 5
2.1 The Adultery Between Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale 5
2.2 Alienation and Being Alone 7
2.3 Ability, Amiability and Angel 8
III. The Symbolic Meaning of Characters 9
3.1 Hester Prynne 9
3.2 Arthur Dimmesdale 10
3.3 Roger Chillingworth 12
IV. The Symbolic Meaning of the Background and Settings 13
4.1 Light and Color 13
4.2 The Prison and the Rose Bush 14
4.3 The Scaffold 15
V. Conclusion 16
Bibliography 18
Acknowledgements 19
Abstract As a representative work of Nathaniel Hawthorne, who is a prominent American romantic novelist, The Scarlet Letter, the forerunner of the Romanticism, plays an important role in the world literature. The Scarlet Letter mainly concerns the emotional, moral and psychological effects of the sin of adultery between Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale on them, and the revenge of Roger Chillingworth on them. By the analysis of the symbolism of The Scarlet Letter, the symbolic meaning of main characters and the symbolic meaning of the settings, we can have a better understanding of the artistic symbolism. Furthermore, we can further be familiar with the main characters and the social background of the novel.
Key words: The Scarlet Letter; symbolism; guilty; adultery
The Symbolism in the Scarlet Letter
I. Introduction
Hawthorne was born on the fourth of July, 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts. Some of his ancestors were men of prominence in the Puritan theocracy of 17th century New England. One of them was a colonial magistrate, notorious for his part in the persecution of the Quakers, and another was a judge at the Salem Witchcraft Trial in 1692. Gradually the family fortune declined. His father, a sea captain, died in Dutch Guiana, leaving the widow and the child behind to shift for them. Young Hawthorn was intensely aware of the misdeeds of his Puritan ancestors, and this awareness led to his understanding of evil being at the core of human life, to that blackness in Hawthorn, as Herman Melville put it. There is a certain amount of truth in the statement that Hawthorn wrote some of his books like The Scarlet Letter and The House of the seven Gables as an attempt at expiating the sin of his ancestors. (Chang 70). During his life time, it seems that Hawthorn was haunted by this sense of evil and sin.
Hawthorn wrote over a hundred essays, stories and sketches. Twice-Told Tales, Mosses from an Old Manse, Young Goodman Brown, The Birthmark and The Minister’s Black Veil and so on are very famous. He also wrote many excellent and remarkable novels, among which The Scarlet Letter, The House of the seven Gables, The Blithedale Romance and The Marble Faun are world-known. After reading his short fictional works and allegory romance tales, we can realize the “black” vision with which almost all his works have presented us. He firmly believes that evil certainly exists in the human heart and sinner will be punished some day, one way or another. So he was often confused by the thought that the decline of his family had some relationship with his ancestors.