紅字中的孤獨元素

1、AbstractNathanial Hawthorne is an extremely renowned American writer of fiction. He not only has created quiet a few classic novels, but also has written quantities of thought-provoking short stories. Until now, Hawthorne and his works have been the focus of discussion from the Chinese and foreign s

2、cholars. The theme of The Scarlet Letter is characterized by multiplicity and various conclusions are dram in the filed of the thematic studies. It seems that scholars have shown major concern with such diathesis as the original sin, the moral consciousness of Hawthorne, religious belief, individual

3、 and society, thoughts of female doctrine and the conflict between the head and the heart. However, very few scholars have ever done a thorough research into the loneliness diathesis of the novel. These detailed analyses four characters loneliness and express the aspects of loneliness in The Scarlet

4、 Letter.Key WordsThe Scarlet Letter; loneliness; symbol摘要納撒尼爾霍桑是美國非常著名的小說家。 他不僅創(chuàng)造了若干部經(jīng)典的長篇小說,而且還書寫了數(shù)量可觀且耐人尋味的短篇小說.至今為止，霍桑和他的作品一直是中外學者討論的對象。紅字是霍桑的代表作品，它的主題具有多樣性的特點，因此在主題研究領域存在各種不同的結(jié)論。大部分學者偏重于探討小說中的原罪意識、霍桑的道德觀念、宗教信仰和女性主義思想、個人與社會的關系以及大腦和心靈之間的沖突等因素, 而對小說中孤獨因素的深入研究并不多見。 本文分析小說中的四位主人公各自的孤獨感，表達霍桑在小說紅字中體現(xiàn)的孤

5、獨因素。關鍵詞紅字；孤獨；象征IntroductionThe Scarlet Letter was declared a classic almost immediately after its publication in 1850, and it has stayed in print and in favor ever since, it has been hailed both as the first symbolic novel and as the first psychological novel. But what really secures the place of Th

6、e Scarlet Letter in the literary history is its treatment of human nature, sin, guilt, and pride-all timeless, universal themes-from a uniquely American point of view. There are many different comments and criticism and on the writers family background, the novel multiple themes and writing styles,

7、the novels social and historical backdrops together with the novels significance in society and literature. This article has done a thorough research into the aspects of loneliness in the novel. The thesis is to elaborate four characters loneliness: Hester, Chillingworth, Dimmesdale and little Pearl

8、. They are having different loneliness. Hester is a lonely pursuer for love; Chilingworth is a lonely revenge-seeker; Dimmesdale is a lonely beggar for gods grace; Pearl is a lonely child asking for recognition. There are many symbolic representations in The Scarlet Letter. Such as names, appearance

9、s of the characters, some special events and actions, these can symbolize loneliness.I. A Brief Information about Hawthorne and The Scarlet Letter.A. A Brief Introduction about HawthorneHawthorne was born on the fourth of July, 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts. Some of his ancestors were big shots in se

10、venteenth-century New England, which was under the control of Puritanism. One of them was a colonial magistrate; notorious for his participation in the persecution of Quakers, and another was a judge at the Salem Witchcraft Trail in 1692. Gradually, the family fortune declined. Hawthornes father was

11、 a sea captain, who died in an accident and left his mother and him behind to struggle to live for themselves. Nathaniel Hawthorne is an extremely renowned American writer of fiction. Herman Melville even hails him as the “American Shakespeare”. He is the first American writer to define his works as

12、 romance; his romantic writing is a landmark of the romantic period in American literature. Besides, Hawthorne is one of the forefathers of symbols. Hawthornes works mainly include four romances: The Scarlet Letter, The House of The Seven Gables, The Blithedale Romance, and The Marble Faun, Three ho

13、rt stories collections: Twice-Told Tales, Moss from an Old Manse, and The Snow-Image and Other Twice-Told Tales, and two myth collection: A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys and Tanglewood Tales for Girls and Boys.B. A Brief Contents about The Scarlet LetterThe story of The Scarlet Letter is a triangul

14、ar love affair set in the Seventeenth-Century Boston, then a puritan settlement. An aging English scholar sends his beautiful young wife, Hester Prynne by name, to make their new home in New England. But for unknown reasons, the husband has not joined her in the colony. The consensus is that he has

15、been lost at sea. While waiting for her husband, Hester loved with Arthur Dimmesdale, her puritan minister, and has given birth to a child, pearl. The love affair between Hester and Dimmesdale results in adultery. Hester confesses but refuses to reveal the name of the childs father. As a punishment,

16、 she is sentenced to three hours on the scaffold and a lifetime of wearing a scarlet letter “A” on her chest, the mark of her shame. When the elderly husband comes over two years later, he is bewildered to see his wife in pillory, wearing the scarlet letter “A” on her breast, holding her illicit chi

17、ld in her arms. The wronged husband, whose pride has been deeply wounded, is determined to seek out the adulterer and vows revenge on the man who has cuckolded him. The old scholar the disguises himself as a physician and changes his name to Roger Chillingworth. Gradually, he discovers that the vill

18、ain is no other than the much-admired brilliant young clergyman, Arthur Dimmesdale. Though weighed down by the secret knowledge of his and hypocrisy, Dimmesdale is fearful of the consequences of confession, which would be more severe for the minister. He deals with his guilt by tormenting himself ph

19、ysically and psychologically, developing a serious heart condition as a result. In the meanwhile, his conscience is ruthlessly preyed upon by Chillingworth. Dimmesdale cuts himself off from community withers spiritually as well as physically.On the other hand, Hesters response to the scarlet letter

20、“A” and her sin is a positive one. Though living on the fringe of the community and suffering social ostracism, she nevertheless bears her punishment courageously, expiates her sin by performing good deeds so that the community gradually changes its attitude and some of her peers even show their tru

21、st and admiration for her honesty and skillfulness. At one time Hester plans to leave America and flee to Europe, where the true lovers can live with Pearl as a family. The day before the ship is to sail, Dimmesdale preaches his most eloquent sermon for the townspeople. Afterwards he impulsively mou

22、nts the scaffold with his lover and daughter and confesses his sin and hypocrisy at public gathering. He falls dead, as pearl kisses him.Frustrated in his revenge, Chillingworth died a year later. But in the very withering he makes his last will and testament and bequeaths a very considerable amount

23、 of property to little Pearl, the daughter of Hester Prynne by Dimmesdale. As heiress to his fortune, Pearl grows up to be married into a noble family of Europe.Causes the Aspects of Loneliness in The Scarlet LetterA. Hawthornes Loneliness in His Personal LifeHawthornes father, who is a well known s

24、hip captain died at sea and left his wife. Then his wife at the age of twenty-eight, with children aged 6 and 4 and an infant of a few month. She withdrew entirely from society, and permitted the habit of solitude to grow up to such a degree that she actually remitted a strict hermit to the end of l

25、ong life. Hawthorne himself though that such an unhealthy and separated family atmosphere provided a morbid consciousness that paralyzed his powers. When Hawthorne after leaving the Bowdon College, he returned to his uncles old house in Salem. He devoted himself to reading and writing with less cont

26、act with the family members as well as outside world. One of his close friends Jonathan Cilley wrote:I love Hawthorne. I admire him, but I do not know him. He lives in a mysterious world of though and imagination while he never permits me to enter (Rubinstein, 1988:82).From his family and his friend

27、s provided clues to Hawthornes life were feelings of gloom and alienation.B. Social and Cultural Backdrops of the novelThe story in The Scarlet Letter was happened in Boston in the 1600s. At that time, the puritans were prosecuted in England because they refused to abide by the rules of the Church o

28、f England, and then they left their home and came to American as permanent settlers. They were forced to settle in a new land far from homeland. The Pilgrim Fathers suffered terrible hardships during the first winter and half of them died. In order to survive, they had to fight against the natural d

29、isasters and endure loneliness in the new world. Four characters Loneliness in The Scarlet LetterA. Hester Prynnes Lonely Pursuer for LoveHester Prynne is the main character in the novel; she was an honesty and goddess woman.Hester spent her happy childhood times with her parents, later; she grew up

30、 to be a beautiful young lady with an extremely passionate nature. She married with a handicapped scientist Chillingworth. Chillingworth regarded himself as a man of thought, the bookworm of great libraries-a man already in decay, have the best years to feed the hunger dream of knowledge(Nathaniel,

31、Hawthorne.1996: 29). In contrast, Hester was in her budding youth, and had a figure of perfect elegance on a large scale. She had dark and abundant hairand a face which, besides being beautiful from regularity of feature and richness of complexion, had the impressiveness belonging to a marked brow a

32、nd deep black eyes (Nathaniel, Hawthorne.1996: 56). She had an impulsive and passionate nature, whereas the husband devoted himself wholly to seeking the so-called truth in books. Chillingworth did not have an eye for Hesters youth and beauty. For the young and beautiful wife, passion and true love

33、should be the basic principle and purpose of a holy marriage. The old and lonely husband was physically deformed. To make the matter worse, the husband indulged himself in alchemy and in medical research, totally neglecting his wifes inner minds for much of the time. The unhappy marriage indicated t

34、hat there was no mutual understanding and communication between her and husband. The parents did not know what Hester expected of her Mr. Right. Her marriage life was unromantic. The attitude of her husband made her loneliness too much. She need love from her husband, she was lonely.When she settled

35、 alone in Boston, a place far from her parental home, the scenes of hometown were foreign to her. The connection between Hester and her relative in England seemed to have broken off. She often memorized that her fathers face, with its bald brow and reverend white beardher mothers too, with the look

36、of heedful and anxious love(Nathaniel, Hawthorne.1996: 27). Children will naturally recollect parents affection and happy moments spent together with relatives or friends, but then ,she hadnt .she was a lonely child deserted by her parents.Hester is a woman in need of consolation from her lover-Dimm

37、esdale. When she came to Boston alone, for a single woman, she fell lonely. Then she met the minister-Dimmesdale. They were fall in love each other, but this action was not allowed by the Puritan. They incarcerated Hester and she must wear the scarlet letter “A” on her bosom, the scarlet letter “A”

38、symbolic meaning is “Adultery”.Hester lived in the seclusion on the outskirts of the town, in all her intercourse with society, there was nothing that made she feel as if she belonged to it. Every gesture, every word, and even the silence of those with whom she came in contact, implied, and often ex

39、pressed, that she was banished and as much alone as if she inhabited another sphere, or communicated with the common nature by other organs and senses than the rest of human kind. Hester sometimes burst into passionate tears, since she has heart-smitten at the bewildering and confusing spell that so

40、 often came between Hester and her beloved daughter. Little Pearl was all her world, but there existed mental distance between the mother and her daughter. sometimes, once in many days, or perchance in many months, she felt an eye-a human eye-upon the ignominious brand that seemed to give a momentar

41、y relief, as if half of her agony were shared(Nathaniel, Hawthorne.1996: 32). The daydreaming indicated that Hester had hoped that her lover could to comfort her and therefore she would be relieved from the state of loneliness for the time being.B. Chillingworths Lonely Revenge-SeekerRoger Chillingw

42、orth was an abandoned husband by his wife. He was an old and lonely scholar in England dehumanized by a life abstruse studying. His twisted, stooped, deformed shoulders mirror his distorted soul. He ignored his wife for most of the time. He made a mistake of marrying a young and beautiful wife, who

43、had an impulsive and passionate nature. For Hester, marriage was not a sacramental union if the couples did not love each other. She considered her marriage with Chillingworth as invalid, for she reminded him, I felt no love (for you), nor feigned any. Husband did not deserve true love from his wife

44、 and he was destined it live through a lonely married life. In view of the striking different between Chillingworth and Hester, their union can be regarded as unnatural relationships of age and youth, deformity and youth, and a studious mind and a passionate nature. When Hester came to Boston alone

45、and she fell in love with Arthur Dimmesdale, which resulted in adultery. From then on, Roger Chillingworth was totally abandoned by his young and passionate wife.Roger Chillingworth was an unapproachable stranger to little Pear. Pearl, the daughter of Hester and Dimmesdale, is often defined by many

46、critics as the sin child, the unholy result of Hesters and Arthur Dimmesdale fall from grace. Pearls existence brought humiliation upon her mothers legal husband Chillingworth. It was natural for them to keep a distance physically and mentally whenever they came across each other.When Chillingworth

47、knew the facts，He became a lonely revenge-seeker. He appeared as calm, gentle, passionless. There was yet, we fear, a quiet depth of malice, hitherto latent, but active now, in his unfortunate old man, which led him to imagine a more intimate revenge than any mortal had ever reeked upon an enemy. To

48、 make himself the one trusted friend, to whom should be confided all the fear, the remorse, the agony, the ineffectual repentance, the backward rush of sinful thoughts, expelled in vain! All that guilty sorrow, hidden from the world, whose great heart would have pitied and forgiven, to be revealed t

49、o him, the pitiless, to him, the unforgiving! All that dark treasure to be lavished on the very man, to whom nothing else could so adequately pay the debt of vengeance.To be a revenge-seeker, forlorn creature that he was, and more wretched than his victim. Roger Chillingworth will lonely in his whol

50、e life.C. Dimmesdales Lonely Beggar for Gods GraceDimmesdale was a hypocritical minister isolating himself from the community and his lover. He fell in love with Hester, he was the adulterer, but he did not admit when Hester had been in quested. Dimmesdale was guilty of two sins. One was the commiss

51、ion of adultery with Hester, and the other was his cowardly and hypocritical failure to confess. Unlike Hester who openly exposed her sin, Dimmesdale lived with a buried sin of his own, which was the source of his endless agony. In private, Arthur Dimmesdale tried to avoid a truly intimate relations

52、hip with his flock so that the community could not enter his world. He seemed to be at a loss in the pathway of human existence, and could be only at ease in some seclusion of his own. He walked alone, often in shadowy bypaths. He was a father with indifference to his daughter-Pearl. Dimmesdale was

53、a young clergyman and he should be wholly devoted to god and followed all the strict puritan rules. In a moment of weakness, Dimmesdale and Hester became lovers, and a baby pearl resulted from their union as the product of the sin of adultery. Hester had made her sin publicly known, whereas Dimmesda

54、le attempted to hide the shameful truth about him. Thus Dimmesdale was further guilty of the sin of dishonesty and hypocrisy besides the sin of adultery. In order to conceal his sins and keep his social position as a pious priest, Dimmesdale made strenuous efforts to keep aloof from his lover and hi

55、s daughter.To be a pious puritans, Dimmesdale suffering under body disease, was gnawed and tortured by some black trouble of the soul. In his secret closet, under lock and key, there was a bloody scourge. Oftentimes, this protestant and puritan divine had plied it on his own shoulder; laughing bitte

56、rly at himself the while, and smiting so much the more pitilessly because of that bitter laugh. It was his custom, too, as it has been that of many other pious puritans, to fast,-not, however, like them, in order to purify the body and render it the fitter medium of celestial illumination,-but rigor

57、ously, and until his knees trembled beneath him, as an act of penance. He kept vigils, likewise, night after night, sometimes in utter darkness; sometimes with a glimmering lamp; and sometimes, viewing his own face in a looking-glass, by the most powerful light which he could throw upon it. He thus

58、typified the constant introspection wherewith he tortured, but could not purify, himself.The minister well knew-subtle, but remorseless hypocrite that he was!-the light in which his vague confession would be viewed. He had striven to put a cheat upon himself by making the avowal of a guilty conscien

59、ce, but had gained only one other sin, and a self-acknowledged shame, without the momentary relief of being self-deceived. He had spoken the very truth, and transformed it into the varies falsehood. And yet, by the constitution of his nature, he loved the truth, and loathed the lie, as few men ever did. Therefore, above all things else, he loathed his miserable self!The bible begins with a story of Adam and Eve, which were expelled from the Ga