摘 要

作为霍桑浪漫主义长篇小说的代表作，《红字》历来吸引着国内外学者研究的兴趣。作品情节简单，然而极其丰满的人物形象，鲜明的人物性格正是作品的一大妙笔。反面人物齐林沃思，作为一个情感坚贞、博学多识的学者，性格本是宽厚温和而勤勉的，精神世界也应是丰富多彩的，但他却在复仇的誓言中性格大变，一步步变为真正的“恶魔”。从理论上讲，一个受过良好教育的人有这样完全的性格变化是匪夷所思的，那么为什么会有这样的变化？如今，各个学派的评论家正从结构主义、心理学、后精神分析等角度来研究齐林沃思的性格变化。这篇论文旨在通过对人物形象及性格的分析，从十七世纪宗教教义和社会生活环境方面探究齐林沃思的性格转变。总结出导致齐林沃思性格转变的真正根源，揭示真正的罪恶。
  
关键词：齐林沃思；性格转变；宗教教义；社会环境

Abstract

As the masterpiece of Hawthorne’s romantic novels, The Scarlet Letter has always attracted the interests of scholars at home and abroad. Although the plot is simple, the vivid figures and distinctive characters make the novel wonderful and brilliant. Among the four major characters, Chillingworth seems to be the only negative one. As a kind scholar who has a massive range of knowledge, Chillingworth is once true, calm, and diligent, owning a colorful spiritual world. But in the novel he develops completely into another man. His character changes greatly while he carries out his vengeance plan on his enemy Dimmesdale, finally he becomes the “Black Man”, or the devil. Theoretically, it is inconceivable for a well-educated person to change so much. Then, why does it happen? Now, critics in various fields are studying the reason for Chillingworth’s changing characters. They have made literary critiques from different perspectives such as structuralism, psychology, and post-structural psychoanalysis. This thesis aims to analyze his figure and characters, thus to make the study of Chillingworth’s changing characters from the social and religious condition in the 17th century. Finally, it would try to find the true origin of Chillingworth’s changing characters, in the hope of exposing the true evil.
 
Keywords: Chillingworth; changing character; social condition; religion

Chapter 1 Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Scarlet Letter
1.1 Introduction
Nathaniel Hawthorne finished his masterpiece The Scarlet Letter when he was 36 years old. Before that he mainly wrote short tales and from 1846-49 he did not even wrote any novels. The Scarlet Letter, a powerful study of guilt and its effect on the conscience, is his first novel that wholly reflected facets of the social and religious environment in New England at that time. It is successful in many ways. Hawthorne, in fact, was heartened by the reception of it and entered upon a period of increased productivity.
As a romantic novelist and realist, Hawthorne uses symbolism and allegory to explore abuses of that society and religion, as well as the characters’ internal heart. He makes efforts to deeply explore the connections between people’s characters and his living environment and the religion, thus The Scarlet shows varieties of themes and complexity.