Abstract

Tess of the D’Urbervilles and The Scarlet Letter, though being completed more than one hundred years ago, are still popular nowadays. Countless literary scholars have studied these two works from various perspectives. As the two leading characters own distinctive personalities, the two works are good material for a comparative feminist study, which is the main task of the current thesis.
The similarities and differences in the life experiences of Tess and Hester will be analysed through the different meanings of the letter “A”. The letter “A” in The Scarlet Letter is a special symbol, whose meaning is “adultery” at the beginning. Actually, with fully understanding of the story, the letter “A” gets other meanings, such as “able”, “admirable” and so on, what generally encapsulates the development of Hester’s life. In Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy never refers to the letter “A”, while an invisible “A” could be seen on Tess any time. At the end of the novel, what hanged Tess is this letter “A” in her heart rather than the scaffold. The different fates of these two women reveal that a small decision may change one’s whole life.

Key Words: Tess  Hester  Fate  the letter A

摘  要

《德伯家的苔丝》和《红字》皆是百年前完成的作品，但时至今日，仍然很受欢迎。不少的文学学者对这两部作品从不同角度做了研究学习。这两个个性鲜明的主人公，使这两部作品为女性主义研究提供了很好的素材。而女性主义也成为现今论文的主题。
苔丝和海斯特他们生活经历中相似以及差异将通过字母“A”的意义进行分析。《红字》中字母“A”是一个特殊的符号，它的意义总是被分析为“通奸”。但事实上，完全理解整个故事之后，字母“A”就包含了其他意义，如“有能力的”，“令人佩服的”等等，而这些大体上概括了海斯特的命运发展轨迹。虽然在《德伯家的苔丝》中，托马斯•哈代没有涉及到字母“A”，但“A”却时刻能在苔丝身上显现出来。在故事的最后，勒死苔丝的，不是绞刑架，而是她心中的“A”。 这两位女主角的不同命运揭示了，一个小小的决定也许也会改变一个人的一生。

关键词：苔丝 海斯特 命运 字母A

1 Introduction
At the beginning of the 19th century, industrial revolution broke out in England. It was male-dominated time. Woman was regarded as a mere appendix to the man, losing their social status. The situation in America was similar. The numerous writers created female images in their works. Thomas Hardy and Nathaniel Hawthorne were two of them.