论《红字》中的孤独因素On the Aspects of Loneliness in The Scarlet Letter.doc

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1、On the Aspects of Loneliness in The Scarlet Letter论红字中的孤独因素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

2、 the focus of discussion from the Chinese and foreign scholars 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 cons

3、ciousness of Hawthorne religious belief individual 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 ex

4、press the aspects of loneliness in The Scarlet LetterKey WordsThe Scarlet Letter loneliness symbol 摘要纳撒尼尔霍桑是美国非常著名的小说家 他不仅创造了若干部经典的长篇小说而且还书写了数量可观且耐人寻味的短篇小说至今为止霍桑和他的作品一直是中外学者讨论的对象红字是霍桑的代表作品它的主题具有多样性的特点因此在主题研究领域存在各种不同的结论大部分学者偏重于探讨小说中的原罪意识霍桑的道德观念宗教信仰和女性主义思想个人与社会的关系以及大脑和心灵之间的冲突等因素 而对小说中孤独因素的深入研究并不多见 本文分

5、析小说中的四位主人公各自的孤独感表达霍桑在小说红字中体现的孤独因素关键词红字孤独象征 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 reall

6、y secures the place of The 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 a

7、nd writing styles 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

8、 little Pearl 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 appea

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

10、teenth-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 a sea cap

11、tain 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 romance his rom

12、antic writing is a landmark of the romantic period in American literature Besides Hawthorne is one of the forefathers of symbolsHawthornes works mainly include four romances The Scarlet Letter The House of The Seven Gables The Blithedale Romance and The Marble Faun Three hort stories collections Twi

13、ce-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 BoysB A Brief Contents about The Scarlet LetterThe story of The Scarlet Letter is a triangular love affair set in the Sevente

14、enth-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 been lost at sea While waiting for her h

15、usband 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 she is sentenced to three hours on the scaffold

16、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 child in her arms The wronged husband whose pride has been de

17、eply 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 villain is no other than the much-admired brilliant young clergyman

18、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 physically and psychologically developing a serious heart condition as

19、a result In the meanwhile his conscience is ruthlessly preyed upon by Chillingworth Dimmesdale cuts himself off from community withers spiritually as well as physicallyOn the other hand Hesters response to the scarlet letter A and her sin is a positive one Though living on the fringe of the communit

20、y 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 trust and admiration for her honesty and skillfulness At one time Hester plans to l

21、eave 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 mounts the scaffold with his lover and daughter and confesses his sin and hypocrisy at p

22、ublic gathering He falls dead as pearl kisses himFrustrated 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 of property to little Pearl the daughter of Hester Prynne by Dimmesdale As heiress to his

23、 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 ship captain died at sea and left his wife Then his wife at the age of twenty-eight with childre

24、n 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 long life Hawthorne himself though that such an unhealthy and separated family atmosphere provided a

25、 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 contact with the family members as well as outside world One of his close friends Jonathan Cilley wroteI lo

26、ve 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 198882 From his family and his friends provided clues to Hawthornes life were feelings of gloom and alienationB Social and Cultural Backdrops of the

27、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 of England and then they left their home and came to American as permanent settlers They were forced to settle in a n

28、ew 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 disasters and endure loneliness in the new world Four characters Loneliness in The Scarlet LetterHester Prynnes Lonely Pur

29、suer for LoveHester Prynne is the main character in the novel she was an honesty and goddess womanHester spent her happy childhood times with her parents later she grew up to be a beautiful young lady with an extremely passionate nature She married with a handicapped scientist Chillingworth Chilling

30、worth 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 Hawthorne1996 29 In contrast Hester was in her budding youth and had a figure of perfect elegance on a large scale She had dark and ab

31、undant hairand a face which besides being beautiful from regularity of feature and richness of complexion had the impressiveness belonging to a marked brow and deep black eyes Nathaniel Hawthorne1996 56 She had an impulsive and passionate nature whereas the husband devoted himself wholly to seeking

32、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 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 indu

33、lged himself in alchemy and in medical research totally neglecting his wifes inner minds for much of the time The unhappy marriage indicated that 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 lif

34、e was unromantic The attitude of her husband made her loneliness too much She need love from her husband she was lonelyWhen she settled 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 ha

35、ve broken off She often memorized that her fathers face with its bald brow and reverend white beardher mothers too with the look of heedful and anxious love Nathaniel Hawthorne1996 27 Children will naturally recollect parents affection and happy moments spent together with relatives or friends but t

36、hen she hadnt she was a lonely child deserted by her parentsHester is a woman in need of consolation from her lover-Dimmesdale 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 th

37、e Puritan They incarcerated Hester and she must wear the scarlet letter A on her bosom the scarlet letter A symbolic meaning is AdulteryHester 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 g

38、esture every word and even the silence of those with whom she came in contact implied and often expressed 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 in

39、to passionate tears since she has heart-smitten at the bewildering and confusing spell that so 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 mont

40、hs she felt an eye-a human eye-upon the ignominious brand that seemed to give a momentary relief as if half of her agony were shared Nathaniel Hawthorne1996 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 lo

41、neliness for the time being B Chillingworths Lonely Revenge-SeekerRoger Chillingworth 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

42、 of the time He made a mistake of marrying a young and beautiful wife who 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 yo

43、u nor feigned any Husband did not deserve true love from his wife 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 mi

44、nd and a passionate nature When Hester came to Boston alone 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 wifeRoger Chillingworth was an unapproachable stranger to little Pear Pearl the daught

45、er of Hester and Dimmesdale is often defined by many 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 whenev

46、er they came across each otherWhen Chillingworth knew the factsHe 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 mo

47、rtal had ever reeked upon an enemy To 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 an

48、d forgiven to be revealed to 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 vengeanceTo be a revenge-seeker forlorn creature that he was and more wretched than his victim Roger Chillingworth will

49、lonely in his whole lifeC 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 commission 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