美国文学史期末论《红字》象征意义
屯留县-精美语段
《美 国 文 学 史》期 末 论 文
2015-2016学年第二学期
论文题目:
论《红字中的象征主义》
英文题目: An
Analysis of the Symbolism of the
Scarlet
Letter
姓 名: 王舒
学 号:
1345752211
专 业: 英语
日 期:
2015
年
6
月
29
日
An Analysis of the Symbolism of The Scarlet
Letter
Chapter One Introduction
1.1 Research Background
1.1.1 Life Career
and Literary Career
1.1.2 The Origin of The
Scarlet Letter
1.2 Purpose and Significance of
the Study
1.3 Organization of the Thesis
Chapter Two The Organization of
Symbolism
2.1 Symbolic Meaning of the Main
Characters’ Names
2.1.1 Hester Prynne
2.1.2 Arthur Dimmesdale
2.1.3 Roger
Chillingworth
2.1.4 Pearl
2.2 Symbolic
Meaning of the Letter “A”
2.2.1 Adultery
2.2.2 Alone
2.2.3 Angel
2.2.4
Arthur Dimmesdale
Chapter Four
Conclusion
An Analysis of the Symbolism
of the Scarlet Letter
Chapter one
Introduction
1.1 Research Background
1.1.1 Life Career and Literary Career
Hawthorne was born in Salem in 1804. His
family has a long Puritan tradition. His father is
a
sea captain, died in Dutch when Hawthorne
was only four. And his mother relied on relatives
in
rearing the children. Besides, some of his
ancestors were a judge relate to the Salem
Witchcraft
Trails of 1692. Therefore, the
family gradually fortune declined. Young Hawthorne
was witnessed
the process and aware of the
misdeeds of his puritan ancestors, so he had deep
understanding of
evil in human life, people
called “that blackness in Hawthorne”. This
affected many works of him
and stated truth in
his books.
He aspired to be a writer in his
middle age. In 1821, he went to Bowdoin College
where he
made friends with Wadsworth
Longfellow and Franklin Pierce, who was the
fourteenth President
of the United States.
Franklin helped him when he was in financial
difficulties. After graduation,
he spent 12
years in seclusion on literary apprenticeship,
reading widely and practicing writing. In
1839, Hawthorne has worked in Boston customs
for two years. Later, he entered into Brook
Farmland and contacted with the idea of
transcendental. Then, Hawthorne went to Salem
customs,
in which affected the work “The
Scarlet Latter” directly.
In 1842, Hawthorne
got married and lived in Concord, made friends
with his neighbors,
Emerson and Thoreau and
others. Finally, he died in 1864 and buried in
Sleepy Valley cemetery.
Hawthorne’s first
novel is about his school life, which was a
failure novel. So he burnt all his
copies in
great rage. Later, he published a collection of
short stories, called Twice-Told Tales in
1837, which attracted some popular
and critical attention. Another successful short
story collection,
Mosses from an Old Manse
came out in 1846 and brought him great fame and
made him finally
financially comfortable. In
1850, a novel, The Scarlet Letter came out, which
made him known by
others and made his name as
a writer of no small talent. In 1851, The House of
the Seven Gables
came out, to be followed by
The Blithedale Romance in 1852 and The Marble Faun
in 1860.
1.1.2 The Origin of the Scarlet
Letter
The story of The Scarlet Letter is very
simple but very moving. The story is set in New
England in seventeenth century Boston, which
is under Puritan command.
A young beautiful
woman, named Hester Prynne, is sent ahead to
America by his
husband-----an aging English
scholar. However, for two years, he does not
arrive here. But two
year later, he is
bewildered to see his wife in pillory, wearing a
scarlet letter “A” on her breast and
holding a
baby in her arms. She is considered the guilty of
adultery and brought to trial. The old
scholar
pretends to be a physician and changes his name
Rogar Chillingworth. Gradually, he
discovered
that his wife’s lover is the young clergyman,
Arthur Dimmesdale. Hester refuses to
name her
lover all the time and looked down on by others.
Dimmesdale suffered physical and
mental
torture. But Hester response to the scarlet letter
is a positive one. She lives a quiet life with
her daughter, Pearl. She helps her fellow
creatures as a sister if many of sorts or as a
skilled
embroiderer in modest manner, and
finally wins other’s love and admiration. Because
the scarlet
letter “A”, the church members
suggest Pearl be taken away from Hester, and
Dimmesdale has a
poor health. She plans to
leave America with Dimmesdale, but he refused her
help. He dies in the
end in her arms while
confessing his sin at a public gathering.
Chillingworth withers. Pearl is
married into a
noble family.
1.2 Purpose and
Significance of the Study
Symbolism is not
only a significant feature of Hawthorne’s works,
but also a major feature of
Romanticism.
Therefore, study of Hawthorne’s masterpiece, the
scarlet letter, symbolism can help
the readers
knows more about the novel and read his works
without any difficulties. When we
learn a
symbolism of a novel, we could study it from the
characters, situations, environment and
others. It is very important for readers to
understand a novel’s thesis.
1.2
Organization of the Thesis
In The Scarlet
Letter, symbolism is used not only in the main
characters but also in the capital
letter “A”
which symbolism adultery, alone, alienation, angel
and Arthur Dimmesdale.
Chapter Two
The Organization of Symbolism
2.1 Symbolic
Meaning of the Main Characters’ Names
2.1.1Hester Prynne
Hester Prynne is
one of the main characters in this novel.
Hawthorne endows her name with
much symbolic
meanings. Firstly, when we see the word “Hester”,
we may contact it with Hastier,
who is the
sister of Zeus in Greek mythology. She is kitchen
goodness. She is also very beautiful
god.
Hawthorne names his main character Hester, which
give readers a strong sense that Hester is
a
beautiful, passionate and warm-hearted woman. In
this novel, Hester tries her best to help others
and as a skilled embroiderer in an unobtrusive
and undemanding manner. Whatever she goes, she
is warm-hearted and king. Besides, the sound
of “Hester” is similar to “Hastier”, which is
difficult
to distinct them. Not only is her
behavior like goodness, but also her beautiful
appearance.
Secondly, Heater is
the homophone of the word “Haste”, which means
doing something quickly so
that you are
careless and make mistakes. She gets married to
Roger Chillingworth, who is an ugly
and old
man and devotes all his life to his books, his
wife just could get a little love from him. As
a young woman, she goes through everyday
loneliness without living a normal life. She does
not
have a baby with Roger. So she feels
sexual inhibition. What’s more, her husband sent
her to
America, while he disappeared for two
years without any news. Hester falls in love with
Arthur
quickly, a young clergyman. As a
result, her fortunate life starts with hasty.
Hester’s surname also has its symbolic
meaning. First of all, “Prynne” sounds like
“Prurient”.
Hester’s husband is so old that he
could not give her sexual love. Which makes Hester
loves the
young man so hastily. As a result,
she is put into prison and forced to wear the
letter “A” all the
time and everywhere for the
crime. Hawthorne uses Prynne to suggest the origin
pain of Hester.
What’s more, “Prynne” is
similar to “Prune” so that affect reader’s
understanding. Hawthorne not
only point out
the reason for Prynne’s guilty, but also believes
that she could recover from the pain
in the
late of life. When Hester gets out the prison, she
never abandons herself, but has courage to
face the cold world. She has a positive
attitude to face the scarlet letter and the rumors
in this
town.
The last but not least,
“Pry” the first syllable of “Prynne”, which with
the meaning of spying
on somebody. The author
wants to discover the evil from the life of
Prynne. In many years without
contacting
others, Prynne has been thinking her guilty, it
also make her aware of the evil spirit
beneath
the surface of the saints. If you put people’s
mind on the table, may be everyone has a
scarlet letter. Everyone has sins in their
deep mind。
2.1.2 Arthur
Dimmesdale
Author Dimmesdale is the main
character in this novel who is an admirable
clergyman. The
abbreviation of his name “AD”
represents “adultery”. His name reminds us of Adam
who is
human being’s ancestor. In the Holy
Bible, Adam and Eve, the ancestors of human
beings, who
live in the Garden of Eden. One
day, Eve eats the fruit of the tree in the middle
of the garden
tricked by the serpent. After
that, they know the good and the evil, and even to
know the sex.
From the Bible, we can know the
adultery is the original sin of human beings.
Arthur is a priest
and also the son of the
god. But he is a man actually. He is also made by
blood and flesh. He can’t
refuse the
temptation of the evil.
From the point of
linguistic, the first syllable of Dimmesdale and
its second syllable
combinations means “bad
luck”. From Hawthorne’s view, Arthur makes a
mistake that could not
be forgiven. He is
differing from Prynne because he hides his love in
his mind and lives in
depression. “Dim” means
dark and weak. His adultery is against Hester. He
has no courage to tell
others that he loves
Hester, just isolated from the community. At the
beginning, when the people
charge Hester, he
also has no courage to confess his sin in the
public. Because the fear of the god,
he
follows others to criticize Hester when she was on
scaffold in front of the people of their
community. She was made laughed by all the
citizens. He did not stand out to tell the truth.
Arthur Dimmesdale is a coward. Just because of
his hypocrisy. He has been controlled by
Chillingworth, whose revenge makes him more
agony and scared. In order to reduce his pains, he
sometime does not eat anything to confess to
the God. Compared to Hester, he is negative so
that
gradually he has a bad condition and
become weaker and weaker. In the end, he confessed
all his
sins, which made him peaceful and died
in Hester’s arms with smile.
2.1.3
Roger Chillingworth
Roger Chillingworth also
has many symbolic meaning in this novel. As others
names, it also
has three meanings. At the
first, Roger is a scholar and he represents wisdom
and education. The
word “Roger” sounds like
“Rogue”, which means a man who behaves in a
dishonest or criminal
way. Of course, he is a
rogue in the novel. He knows he couldn’t satisfy
Hester but still married
with her, and buried
her green years. He married Hester not because
love but in order to content
his feeling of
lonely and chilly heart. After marrying Hester, he
devotes all his time to working and
reading
and always is indifferent to her. So the
Chillingworth is rogue that destroys Hester’s
youth
and heart.
Second, the word “Roger”
makes people thinks of the Jolly Roger, who is a
prate. He is good
at revenge. So does the
Chillingworth. Though he doesn’t love hi wife, he
still want to find the
man when he knows the
adultery of his wife. When he discovered the man
is Arthur, he used his
occupation to come into
Arthur’s mind。
Finally, his name is made by
two segments: “chilling” and “worth”. Chilling
from the word
“chilly”, which represent
Chillingworth is cold-blooded. He constrains
Arthur and causes mental
stress. In other
hand, “worth” shows he has advantages in some
ways.
2.1.4 Pearl
Pearl is the daughter of
Hester and Dimmesdale. She is the only innocent
person in this novel.
She likes sunshine and
angel. She is the pearl in her mother’s heart. The
word “Pearl” is from the
Bible, which means
valuable things. In the Bible, the God asks a man
sells off his property to
follow him. And
tells him the pearl is his heaven. Next, the
author compares Pearl with a lot of
beautiful
things. She is Hester’s spiritual pillar. Her name
brings the whole novel active and
energy. The last meaning is that, “Pearl” and
“Purl” is homophones. The author takes Pearl as a
purl, which represent a mystery in her life.
So she is the very important character in this
novel.
She is so purity to live in the work.
2.2 Symbolic Meaning of the Letter “A”
The symbolism of this novel is changing all
the time. I will explain the meanings from four
aspects: Adultery, alone, angel and Arthur
Dimmesdale.
2.2.1 Adultery
At the
beginning, the meaning of the letter “A” is the
first letter of “Adultery”. She is put into
the prison and forced to wear a scarlet letter
“A” in front of her breast. The letter is a symbol
of
shame. Everyone knows who she is and looks
down upon. The letter “A” makes Hester become a
criminal in people’s mind. Therefore, the
letter “A” means “Adultery”.
2.2.2 Alone
Hester is very lonely in her life. After she
releases from the prison, all the people elude her
and she is separated from others. Not only has
she felt lonely in the community, but also in her
marriage. She marries Chillingworth, but she
owed nothing from his husband. When she comes
into the execution ground, nobody sympathize
her, even her lover, Arthur. Gradually, she is
isolated from the community. She faces all the
difficulties by herself. So she the letter “A” is
also
means “Alone”.
2.2.3 Angel
Hester not only brings her daughter by
herself, but also kind to everyone in surrounding
areas.
Her daughter, Pearl is her most
beautiful work in her whole life. Hester is so
kind to the poor, so
warm-hearted
to the people who in troubles, so helpful to the
sick. She is like an angel, though she
is a
fallen angel. But in people’s mind, angel is
innocent and purity. Hester is a strong-willed
woman. She never hates anyone or revenge to
those people who laughed at her. Her appearance
likes an angel, so does her spirit. She is so
positive when she put into the prison. She
overcomes
the difficulty of confronting the
shame of her sin. From the adultery to angel, she
has the ability to
change her attitudes and
others’. It is so difficult for her to win the
admiration from people.
2.2.4 Arthur
Dimmesdale
The letter “A” also stands her
lover, Arthur Dimmesdale, who is Pearl’s father.
After she is
released from the prison, she has
the chance to remove to other place, where no one
knows her and
her event. But she doesn’t leave
away alone. Because Arthur in this place. From her
behavior, we
can know she loves her lover very
much. Though she was despised by others, she still
stays here
with her courage and strength. At
the beginning, on scaffold, she refuses to tell
the name of her
lover, Arthur. Though, Arthur
has been died, Hester also choose to live in her
cottage till the end of
her life. All what she
has done is for her lover. After she died, she is
buried with her lover. So, the
letter “A” in
Hester’s eyes is a symbol of her lover, Arthur
Dimmesdale.
Chapter Three Conclusion
Hawthorne is good at using symbolism, which
leads the way to an independent literary genre.
It is called symbolic novel. We noted the
symbolic significance of the scarlet letter
earlier on in
our discussion of The Scarlet
Letter. The name of its characters, Hester Prynne
and Pearl, as well
as Arthur Dimmesdale and
Chillingworth are symbolic. Especially the letter
“A” in the novel has
lot meanings,
such as adultery, alone, alienation, able, angel
and Arthur. All this symbolic makes
reader pay
more attention to the further meaning of this
novel. People can get deep understanding
of
this novel and the idea of the author. In a word,
Nathaniel Hawthorne has an excellent use of
symbolism in his masterpiece.
From the
four characters, we can know what they present and
the author’s thoughts. Though
Hester is a
guilty woman, but she is also very innocent and
beautiful. She is brave and has a
positive
attitude to the bad condition. It is valuable for
us to inmate. Arthur is a coward. Some
readers
may hate the characteristic of him. He is full of
guilty in his whole life. He loses his lover
and the love from the God. But Hawthorne gives
him a good result that died on Hester’s arms. He
confesses to all the people at the end with
his courage. Chillingworth is the only negative
character in this novel. Expect books, he has
nothing. Of course, he only loves his books. The
most beautiful girl is Pearl. She is young and
purity. She has a good result that marries into a
noble
family. The guilty of the old generation
is not affecting her. She just likes an angel in
appearance
and spirit. Her result also shows
the positive attitude to all the people’s life.
《美 国 文 学 史》期 末 论 文
2015-2016学年第二学期
论文题目:
论《红字中的象征主义》
英文题目: An
Analysis of the Symbolism of the
Scarlet
Letter
姓 名: 王舒
学 号:
1345752211
专 业: 英语
日 期:
2015
年
6
月
29
日
An Analysis of the Symbolism of The Scarlet
Letter
Chapter One Introduction
1.1 Research Background
1.1.1 Life Career
and Literary Career
1.1.2 The Origin of The
Scarlet Letter
1.2 Purpose and Significance of
the Study
1.3 Organization of the Thesis
Chapter Two The Organization of
Symbolism
2.1 Symbolic Meaning of the Main
Characters’ Names
2.1.1 Hester Prynne
2.1.2 Arthur Dimmesdale
2.1.3 Roger
Chillingworth
2.1.4 Pearl
2.2 Symbolic
Meaning of the Letter “A”
2.2.1 Adultery
2.2.2 Alone
2.2.3 Angel
2.2.4
Arthur Dimmesdale
Chapter Four
Conclusion
An Analysis of the Symbolism
of the Scarlet Letter
Chapter one
Introduction
1.1 Research Background
1.1.1 Life Career and Literary Career
Hawthorne was born in Salem in 1804. His
family has a long Puritan tradition. His father is
a
sea captain, died in Dutch when Hawthorne
was only four. And his mother relied on relatives
in
rearing the children. Besides, some of his
ancestors were a judge relate to the Salem
Witchcraft
Trails of 1692. Therefore, the
family gradually fortune declined. Young Hawthorne
was witnessed
the process and aware of the
misdeeds of his puritan ancestors, so he had deep
understanding of
evil in human life, people
called “that blackness in Hawthorne”. This
affected many works of him
and stated truth in
his books.
He aspired to be a writer in his
middle age. In 1821, he went to Bowdoin College
where he
made friends with Wadsworth
Longfellow and Franklin Pierce, who was the
fourteenth President
of the United States.
Franklin helped him when he was in financial
difficulties. After graduation,
he spent 12
years in seclusion on literary apprenticeship,
reading widely and practicing writing. In
1839, Hawthorne has worked in Boston customs
for two years. Later, he entered into Brook
Farmland and contacted with the idea of
transcendental. Then, Hawthorne went to Salem
customs,
in which affected the work “The
Scarlet Latter” directly.
In 1842, Hawthorne
got married and lived in Concord, made friends
with his neighbors,
Emerson and Thoreau and
others. Finally, he died in 1864 and buried in
Sleepy Valley cemetery.
Hawthorne’s first
novel is about his school life, which was a
failure novel. So he burnt all his
copies in
great rage. Later, he published a collection of
short stories, called Twice-Told Tales in
1837, which attracted some popular
and critical attention. Another successful short
story collection,
Mosses from an Old Manse
came out in 1846 and brought him great fame and
made him finally
financially comfortable. In
1850, a novel, The Scarlet Letter came out, which
made him known by
others and made his name as
a writer of no small talent. In 1851, The House of
the Seven Gables
came out, to be followed by
The Blithedale Romance in 1852 and The Marble Faun
in 1860.
1.1.2 The Origin of the Scarlet
Letter
The story of The Scarlet Letter is very
simple but very moving. The story is set in New
England in seventeenth century Boston, which
is under Puritan command.
A young beautiful
woman, named Hester Prynne, is sent ahead to
America by his
husband-----an aging English
scholar. However, for two years, he does not
arrive here. But two
year later, he is
bewildered to see his wife in pillory, wearing a
scarlet letter “A” on her breast and
holding a
baby in her arms. She is considered the guilty of
adultery and brought to trial. The old
scholar
pretends to be a physician and changes his name
Rogar Chillingworth. Gradually, he
discovered
that his wife’s lover is the young clergyman,
Arthur Dimmesdale. Hester refuses to
name her
lover all the time and looked down on by others.
Dimmesdale suffered physical and
mental
torture. But Hester response to the scarlet letter
is a positive one. She lives a quiet life with
her daughter, Pearl. She helps her fellow
creatures as a sister if many of sorts or as a
skilled
embroiderer in modest manner, and
finally wins other’s love and admiration. Because
the scarlet
letter “A”, the church members
suggest Pearl be taken away from Hester, and
Dimmesdale has a
poor health. She plans to
leave America with Dimmesdale, but he refused her
help. He dies in the
end in her arms while
confessing his sin at a public gathering.
Chillingworth withers. Pearl is
married into a
noble family.
1.2 Purpose and
Significance of the Study
Symbolism is not
only a significant feature of Hawthorne’s works,
but also a major feature of
Romanticism.
Therefore, study of Hawthorne’s masterpiece, the
scarlet letter, symbolism can help
the readers
knows more about the novel and read his works
without any difficulties. When we
learn a
symbolism of a novel, we could study it from the
characters, situations, environment and
others. It is very important for readers to
understand a novel’s thesis.
1.2
Organization of the Thesis
In The Scarlet
Letter, symbolism is used not only in the main
characters but also in the capital
letter “A”
which symbolism adultery, alone, alienation, angel
and Arthur Dimmesdale.
Chapter Two
The Organization of Symbolism
2.1 Symbolic
Meaning of the Main Characters’ Names
2.1.1Hester Prynne
Hester Prynne is
one of the main characters in this novel.
Hawthorne endows her name with
much symbolic
meanings. Firstly, when we see the word “Hester”,
we may contact it with Hastier,
who is the
sister of Zeus in Greek mythology. She is kitchen
goodness. She is also very beautiful
god.
Hawthorne names his main character Hester, which
give readers a strong sense that Hester is
a
beautiful, passionate and warm-hearted woman. In
this novel, Hester tries her best to help others
and as a skilled embroiderer in an unobtrusive
and undemanding manner. Whatever she goes, she
is warm-hearted and king. Besides, the sound
of “Hester” is similar to “Hastier”, which is
difficult
to distinct them. Not only is her
behavior like goodness, but also her beautiful
appearance.
Secondly, Heater is
the homophone of the word “Haste”, which means
doing something quickly so
that you are
careless and make mistakes. She gets married to
Roger Chillingworth, who is an ugly
and old
man and devotes all his life to his books, his
wife just could get a little love from him. As
a young woman, she goes through everyday
loneliness without living a normal life. She does
not
have a baby with Roger. So she feels
sexual inhibition. What’s more, her husband sent
her to
America, while he disappeared for two
years without any news. Hester falls in love with
Arthur
quickly, a young clergyman. As a
result, her fortunate life starts with hasty.
Hester’s surname also has its symbolic
meaning. First of all, “Prynne” sounds like
“Prurient”.
Hester’s husband is so old that he
could not give her sexual love. Which makes Hester
loves the
young man so hastily. As a result,
she is put into prison and forced to wear the
letter “A” all the
time and everywhere for the
crime. Hawthorne uses Prynne to suggest the origin
pain of Hester.
What’s more, “Prynne” is
similar to “Prune” so that affect reader’s
understanding. Hawthorne not
only point out
the reason for Prynne’s guilty, but also believes
that she could recover from the pain
in the
late of life. When Hester gets out the prison, she
never abandons herself, but has courage to
face the cold world. She has a positive
attitude to face the scarlet letter and the rumors
in this
town.
The last but not least,
“Pry” the first syllable of “Prynne”, which with
the meaning of spying
on somebody. The author
wants to discover the evil from the life of
Prynne. In many years without
contacting
others, Prynne has been thinking her guilty, it
also make her aware of the evil spirit
beneath
the surface of the saints. If you put people’s
mind on the table, may be everyone has a
scarlet letter. Everyone has sins in their
deep mind。
2.1.2 Arthur
Dimmesdale
Author Dimmesdale is the main
character in this novel who is an admirable
clergyman. The
abbreviation of his name “AD”
represents “adultery”. His name reminds us of Adam
who is
human being’s ancestor. In the Holy
Bible, Adam and Eve, the ancestors of human
beings, who
live in the Garden of Eden. One
day, Eve eats the fruit of the tree in the middle
of the garden
tricked by the serpent. After
that, they know the good and the evil, and even to
know the sex.
From the Bible, we can know the
adultery is the original sin of human beings.
Arthur is a priest
and also the son of the
god. But he is a man actually. He is also made by
blood and flesh. He can’t
refuse the
temptation of the evil.
From the point of
linguistic, the first syllable of Dimmesdale and
its second syllable
combinations means “bad
luck”. From Hawthorne’s view, Arthur makes a
mistake that could not
be forgiven. He is
differing from Prynne because he hides his love in
his mind and lives in
depression. “Dim” means
dark and weak. His adultery is against Hester. He
has no courage to tell
others that he loves
Hester, just isolated from the community. At the
beginning, when the people
charge Hester, he
also has no courage to confess his sin in the
public. Because the fear of the god,
he
follows others to criticize Hester when she was on
scaffold in front of the people of their
community. She was made laughed by all the
citizens. He did not stand out to tell the truth.
Arthur Dimmesdale is a coward. Just because of
his hypocrisy. He has been controlled by
Chillingworth, whose revenge makes him more
agony and scared. In order to reduce his pains, he
sometime does not eat anything to confess to
the God. Compared to Hester, he is negative so
that
gradually he has a bad condition and
become weaker and weaker. In the end, he confessed
all his
sins, which made him peaceful and died
in Hester’s arms with smile.
2.1.3
Roger Chillingworth
Roger Chillingworth also
has many symbolic meaning in this novel. As others
names, it also
has three meanings. At the
first, Roger is a scholar and he represents wisdom
and education. The
word “Roger” sounds like
“Rogue”, which means a man who behaves in a
dishonest or criminal
way. Of course, he is a
rogue in the novel. He knows he couldn’t satisfy
Hester but still married
with her, and buried
her green years. He married Hester not because
love but in order to content
his feeling of
lonely and chilly heart. After marrying Hester, he
devotes all his time to working and
reading
and always is indifferent to her. So the
Chillingworth is rogue that destroys Hester’s
youth
and heart.
Second, the word “Roger”
makes people thinks of the Jolly Roger, who is a
prate. He is good
at revenge. So does the
Chillingworth. Though he doesn’t love hi wife, he
still want to find the
man when he knows the
adultery of his wife. When he discovered the man
is Arthur, he used his
occupation to come into
Arthur’s mind。
Finally, his name is made by
two segments: “chilling” and “worth”. Chilling
from the word
“chilly”, which represent
Chillingworth is cold-blooded. He constrains
Arthur and causes mental
stress. In other
hand, “worth” shows he has advantages in some
ways.
2.1.4 Pearl
Pearl is the daughter of
Hester and Dimmesdale. She is the only innocent
person in this novel.
She likes sunshine and
angel. She is the pearl in her mother’s heart. The
word “Pearl” is from the
Bible, which means
valuable things. In the Bible, the God asks a man
sells off his property to
follow him. And
tells him the pearl is his heaven. Next, the
author compares Pearl with a lot of
beautiful
things. She is Hester’s spiritual pillar. Her name
brings the whole novel active and
energy. The last meaning is that, “Pearl” and
“Purl” is homophones. The author takes Pearl as a
purl, which represent a mystery in her life.
So she is the very important character in this
novel.
She is so purity to live in the work.
2.2 Symbolic Meaning of the Letter “A”
The symbolism of this novel is changing all
the time. I will explain the meanings from four
aspects: Adultery, alone, angel and Arthur
Dimmesdale.
2.2.1 Adultery
At the
beginning, the meaning of the letter “A” is the
first letter of “Adultery”. She is put into
the prison and forced to wear a scarlet letter
“A” in front of her breast. The letter is a symbol
of
shame. Everyone knows who she is and looks
down upon. The letter “A” makes Hester become a
criminal in people’s mind. Therefore, the
letter “A” means “Adultery”.
2.2.2 Alone
Hester is very lonely in her life. After she
releases from the prison, all the people elude her
and she is separated from others. Not only has
she felt lonely in the community, but also in her
marriage. She marries Chillingworth, but she
owed nothing from his husband. When she comes
into the execution ground, nobody sympathize
her, even her lover, Arthur. Gradually, she is
isolated from the community. She faces all the
difficulties by herself. So she the letter “A” is
also
means “Alone”.
2.2.3 Angel
Hester not only brings her daughter by
herself, but also kind to everyone in surrounding
areas.
Her daughter, Pearl is her most
beautiful work in her whole life. Hester is so
kind to the poor, so
warm-hearted
to the people who in troubles, so helpful to the
sick. She is like an angel, though she
is a
fallen angel. But in people’s mind, angel is
innocent and purity. Hester is a strong-willed
woman. She never hates anyone or revenge to
those people who laughed at her. Her appearance
likes an angel, so does her spirit. She is so
positive when she put into the prison. She
overcomes
the difficulty of confronting the
shame of her sin. From the adultery to angel, she
has the ability to
change her attitudes and
others’. It is so difficult for her to win the
admiration from people.
2.2.4 Arthur
Dimmesdale
The letter “A” also stands her
lover, Arthur Dimmesdale, who is Pearl’s father.
After she is
released from the prison, she has
the chance to remove to other place, where no one
knows her and
her event. But she doesn’t leave
away alone. Because Arthur in this place. From her
behavior, we
can know she loves her lover very
much. Though she was despised by others, she still
stays here
with her courage and strength. At
the beginning, on scaffold, she refuses to tell
the name of her
lover, Arthur. Though, Arthur
has been died, Hester also choose to live in her
cottage till the end of
her life. All what she
has done is for her lover. After she died, she is
buried with her lover. So, the
letter “A” in
Hester’s eyes is a symbol of her lover, Arthur
Dimmesdale.
Chapter Three Conclusion
Hawthorne is good at using symbolism, which
leads the way to an independent literary genre.
It is called symbolic novel. We noted the
symbolic significance of the scarlet letter
earlier on in
our discussion of The Scarlet
Letter. The name of its characters, Hester Prynne
and Pearl, as well
as Arthur Dimmesdale and
Chillingworth are symbolic. Especially the letter
“A” in the novel has
lot meanings,
such as adultery, alone, alienation, able, angel
and Arthur. All this symbolic makes
reader pay
more attention to the further meaning of this
novel. People can get deep understanding
of
this novel and the idea of the author. In a word,
Nathaniel Hawthorne has an excellent use of
symbolism in his masterpiece.
From the
four characters, we can know what they present and
the author’s thoughts. Though
Hester is a
guilty woman, but she is also very innocent and
beautiful. She is brave and has a
positive
attitude to the bad condition. It is valuable for
us to inmate. Arthur is a coward. Some
readers
may hate the characteristic of him. He is full of
guilty in his whole life. He loses his lover
and the love from the God. But Hawthorne gives
him a good result that died on Hester’s arms. He
confesses to all the people at the end with
his courage. Chillingworth is the only negative
character in this novel. Expect books, he has
nothing. Of course, he only loves his books. The
most beautiful girl is Pearl. She is young and
purity. She has a good result that marries into a
noble
family. The guilty of the old generation
is not affecting her. She just likes an angel in
appearance
and spirit. Her result also shows
the positive attitude to all the people’s life.