Abstract

The publication of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne makes him become famous overnight. This novel illustrates the problems in American society in the 19th century, especially the relationship between male and female as well as human beings and nature. Many scholars have studied this novel due to its unique charm. They mainly focus on its symbolism, theme, Puritanism and characters but few on the focus of ecofeminism. The protagonist Hester in this story is a woman under oppression of patriarchy society. When she finds her true love and resists her fate, she is punished by the puritan society, to wear the humiliating “A” in front of her chest all the time. In the meantime, nature at that time was considered as an evil thing by the puritan society. Therefore, women and nature both become “marginalized”. But Hester gets along well with nature and its power, and finally earns the respect of others. Thus, the thesis is to explore the ecofeminist consciousness reflected in this novel, to explain the origin why Hester and nature are oppressed and to illustrate Hawthorne’s thoughts of ecofeminist caring ethics.

Key Words: ecofeminism  The Scarlet Letter  patriarchy

摘 要

纳撒尼尔•霍桑的《红字》一经出版，霍桑一举成名。小说揭露了19世纪美国的社会问题，尤其是男性与女性、人类与自然的关系。因为这部作品的独特魅力，许多学者已对该作品进行过研究。研究主要集中在作品的象征主义、主题、清教主义以及人物性格，却少有针对生态女性主义进行研究的。故事中的主人公海斯特是一位在父权制社会压迫下的女性。当她找到真爱，反抗不公命运时，受到了清教社会的惩罚，即在胸前永远佩戴代表耻辱的“A”字。与此同时，因为当时的清教社会认为大自然是黑暗力量，所以妇女和自然都被“边缘化”了。但海斯特与自然和睦相处，凭借大自然的力量，最终赢得了他人的尊重。因此，该研究主要解读小说中所体现的生态女性主义意识，探索海斯特和自然被压迫的根源，并展现霍桑生态女性主义关怀伦理的态度。

关键字：生态女性主义 《红字》 父权制

1 Introduction
The Scarlet Letter was a famous novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864). It illustrates the problems of American society and destiny of human beings at that time. Many scholars have studied the work from different perspectives, such as symbolism, theme, Puritanism, destiny of characters and so on. But few are from the perspective of ecofeminism. Thus, it is necessary and important to analyze The Scarlet Letter with an ecofeministic approach.