Hawthorne’s Thoughts in The Scarlet Letter

罗菲

【Abstract】The Scarlet Letter， Nathaniel Hawthornes representative work， is a classical novel in American literature in the 19th century. It has a deep ideological content. In this works， we may discover that Hawthorne's thought is influenced by the Puritanism. Therefore， his work has his own charming， full of the color of mysticism and despondent， which leads people into wonderland， and provides much food for thought.

【Key words】Nathaniel Hawthorne； thoughts； Puritanism

【摘要】霍桑的代表作《紅字》是19世纪美国文学史上的一本古典小说。该小说有很深的思想性。在作品中可以发现霍桑的思想深受清教主义的影响。正因如此，他的作品独具魅力，充满了神秘、抑郁的色彩，引人入胜，回味无穷。

【关键词】纳撒尼尔·霍桑 思想 清教主义

Ⅰ. The Introduction of Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Scarlet Letter

Nathaniel Hawthorne （1804—1864） was born in Salem， Massachusetts on July 4， 1804. He loves unshaken freedom and solitude， and meanwhile he was influenced by the formed religious thought by studing the history of the puritans. Hawthornes thought was full of contradictions. Hawthornes thought was influenced by Puritanism and transcendentalism. He also used symbolism and imagination， which made his works full of mystical color.

In The Scarlet Letter， there are four main characters： Hester Prynne， Pearl，Dimmesdale， and chillingworth. Hester was a strong—willed girl. When still young， she didnt know what love is and married Chillingworth. Later her husband disappeared inexplicably when Hester moved to New England in her loneliness； she fell in love with Dimmesdale， the young and handsome clergyman. Because she conceived a baby， her secret love was exposed and was put into prison and was forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her clothes all her life which mean “Adultery”. Finally Hester won peoples love and respect through her hard work and honesty and bravery.

Ⅱ. Puritanism reflected in The Scarlet letter

In The Scarlet Letter， while Hawthorne gave a sharp repudiation to religions asceticism， he didnt deny Christianity. The hero and heroine： Dimmesdale and Hester are typical Hawthornes characters who did good deeds to people while they were burdened with sin. These accords with Puritanism that believes that man is evil， but can do good deeds to get rid of evil in his heart. Both Hester and Dimmesdale are ideal characters that accord with the Christianity which praises the good deeds in order to confess.

Hester did not leave New England， not only because of her lover，but because of her religious belief that she would accept her punishment.In fact， Hester didnt belong to society. At last， she turned over a new leaf and thus the meaning of symbol “A” was changed from “Adultery” to “Able”and“Angel”. Hester became a real martyr and sage at the end of the nove1.

We can clearly see that the author criticizes severely Puritanical asceticism， of which Dimmesdale is a victim. Dimmesdale studied theology strenuously and discharged his duty in his parish carefully. He won the reputation， respect and trust from the people. But all these only made him feel more painful. He suffered the inner torment and tried his best to help his fellow religious believers. Although the author was sad for his misery and angry at his timidity， at last he made Dimmesdale end up as a real， ideal martyr and sage. Dimmesdale confessed his crime openly and died. The author has a high view of Dimmesdales final action because his action was what a real puritan should do.

To sum up，we can see that the novel is not only a critique of merciless law and dismal religious rules， but also a positive presentation of the ideals of Puritanism. Hawthorne summarized the new social problems caused by the development of the capitalism as an abstract evil. Still further，he thought of the root of the social problem as solid evil in the world. He said if we clean our inside world firstly， the outside devil will disappear. On the one hand，Hawthorne has sympathy on Hester and Dimmsedale， and on the other hand he also considers that at first they are sinners who committed a crime because of passion which is looked down upon by Christianity. In Hawthornes eyes the religious law， prison and grave are a symbol of evil，but they are also a form of a strong power to restrain the crimes of the humans.

III. Conclusion

The Scarlet letter fully reflects his thoughts， which were influenced by Puritanism， Transcendentalism and mysticism. These three sources make his novel full of mystical color， and more importantly make his unique writing style.

References：

[1]Nathaniel Hawthorne.The Scarlet Letter.青島：青岛出版社，2004.

[2]刘峰.A Pietistic，or A Skeptic —on Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter and Puritanism Thought[J].长春理工大学学报（社会科学版），2005，3（1）.

[3]洪熠.“Preface to the Translation of The Scarlet Letter”，Shanghai Translation Publishing House，1999：80.

[4]朱宏.“A Brief History of American History”，Beijing Peoples Press，2001：73.

[5]戴震.“A Comment on Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter”.Journal of Sichuan University，2004：90，93.

[6]张丽君.“Hester As a Rebel Against Puritanism”.Journal of Hulunbeir College，No.2，Vol.7，Sept.1999：85.