摘要：

美国作家纳撒尼尔霍桑因《红字》誉满全球，更因此奠定了他浪漫主义和象征主义文学创始人的地位。在这部作品中，霍桑开创性地将象征主义文学手法运用其中，赋予珠儿这个被视为配角的小人物以多重象征意义，从而揭示了”A”丰富而深刻的内涵。本文通过分析珠儿的象征意义以探究作者对宗教扼杀人性的批判和对自由的向往。
本文分为五大部分。前言部分首先阐述霍桑所生活的背景以及他在特定时期受环境影响所形成的宗教观和救赎观。正文的第一部分，简介作者的文学地位及作品。第二部分对珠儿本身进行剖析，包括名字，穿着，秉性，挖掘里面蕴含的象征意义。第三部分结合《红字》中几位主人公在对自身所犯的罪进行救赎的过程中受珠儿的影响，揭示珠儿的道德和宗教寓意。第四部分探讨珠儿被赋予的象征意义对这部作品产生的影响。第五部分通过正文的阐述得出总结：珠儿的塑造为当时美国阴沉沉的清教注入了一股清新的溪流，启蒙了思想进步的美国人乃至世界。霍桑意在探究人性的真实，作品中寄托了他对美和自由的向往与追求。

关键字：红字;珠儿;象征主义;自由

Abstract:

 The Scarlet Letter makes the American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne known all around the world. Moreover, it established the solid status of Hawthorne——the father of America romantic literature and symbolism literature. Hawthorne applied symbolism skills to this great work, and gave Pearl——who was regarded as a supporting role in this book, different kinds of symbolic meanings to reveal the plentiful and deep meaning of the red letter “A”. This paper tries to explore Hawthorne’s criticizing on religious bondage and his desire for freedom.
This thesis is divided into five parts. First part is introduction part, this part tries to introduce Hawthorne’s statue in the history of American literature and The Scarlet Letter. After the introduction part, the second chapter of the main body tries to analyze Pearl’s symbolism meaning, from the aspects of her birth, name, dress, character and personality. The third chapter focuses on Pearl’s moral point, her efforts on Hester, Dimondale and Chillingworth to emphasize Pearl’s religion’s moral. The fourth part tells Pearl‘s symbolism play a significant role in The Scarlet Letter. The last part makes a conclusion from the above presentation: Pearl’s symbolism injects a fresh stream for the gloomy Puritanism. It enlightens the enlightened Americans or even the whole world. Hawthorne aims to explore human’s reality; he puts his hope of liberty and beauty in this work.

Keywords: The Scarlet Letter.; Pearl; symbolism; freedom

1. Introduction

1.1 Brief introduction to Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804—1864) was born in Salem, Massachusetts. He was one of the great masters of American fictions. His novels and tales are penetrating explorations of moral and spiritual conflicts.Hawthorne has played a very important role in the history of world literature. He is deserved to be a pioneer in at least two aspects, one is the application of symbolism; the other is the analysis on people’s mental and disorder moral.