摘要

《红字》是十九世纪美国浪漫主义作家霍桑的优秀长篇杰作，是美国文学史上第一篇运用象征主义手法创作的小说。《红字》的象征寓意具有多重涵义，正是这些象征意象的灵活运用，使《红字》达到了一定的思想高度，并具有了经久不衰的艺术魅力。作者在其创作过程中广泛运用了象征的创作手法，从而使得小说中的人物，场所以及大自然中的其他景物都带上了特殊的象征意义，使故事情节充满神秘色彩；与此同时，象征手法的运用丰富了作品的思想内涵，增加了小说的魅力，给读者留下了想象和无穷的回味。本文从红字的多种象征意义，主要人物与《圣经》故事的联系和寓意以及景物寓意等方面入手，研究《红字》中的象征手法，从而使读者更好的了解作品。

关键词：《红字》；象征主义；圣经；清教主义

Abstract

The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne’s masterpiece, is usually regarded as the first symbolic novel written in the United States through which Hawthorne has made one of his most distinctive and significant contributions to the growth of American fiction. The symbolic images of The Scarlet Letter connote many meanings. It is the flexibility in using the symbol images that made The Scarlet Letter reach a higher ideal position, and forms the ever-lasting charisma in art. Symbols are extensively used in this novel. The characters, the settings, and other things in nature carry with themselves special symbolic meanings and render the story rich implications and charm. Through an analysis of the symbols and Hawthorne’s symbolic writing techniques in The Scarlet Letter, this paper tends to offer the reading public a better understanding and appreciation of The Scarlet Letter. This paper researches the symbolism in this novel from the following aspects: the changing symbolic meaning of the scarlet letter, the major characters and many objects that are described in the novel to make the symbolism clear to the readers.

Key words: The Scarlet Letter; symbolism; Holy Bible; Puritanism

1 Introduction
1.1 A brief introduction to the author
Nathaniel Hawthorne, who was born in Salem, Massachusetts, was an American novelist. He entered Bowdoin College in 1821, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in 1824, and graduated from it in 1825. Among his college friends were Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Franklin Pierce who became the fourteenth President of the United States. From Bowdoin Hawthorne returned to Salem. For nearly twelve years, from 1825 to 1836, he lived alone in this town. He once worked at a Custom House and joined Brook Farm which was a transcendentalist community.