Abstract

The Scarlet Letter is a novel written by the American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne in the 19th century. The story, set in 17th century, Boston, reveals the darkness and cruelty of the colonialists’ Puritanism. This paper is to combine Hawthorne’s family background with the social background at that time to analyze the writer’s criticism on Puritanism from three main characters Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth in The Scarlet Letter. The writer’s growth was closely linked with the Puritanism, so he was fully aware of the cruelty and imprisonment of religion on human nature. Hawthorne expresses both his confusion and confidence toward religion and life by the three main characters’ different expressions of religious belief and different living attitudes in the novel.

Key words: Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, Puritanism

摘要

《红字》是由19世纪美国作家霍桑创作的一部长篇小说。小说以17世纪中叶的波斯顿为背景，揭露当时清教徒殖民统治的黑暗和残酷。本文将结合霍桑的家庭背景和当时的时代背景，分别从《红字》中的三个主人公海丝特•白兰、阿瑟•丁梅斯代尔、罗杰•齐灵渥斯分析作者的宗教观。霍桑的的成长一直与清教有着紧密联系，他充分意识到宗教思想对人性的压迫和禁锢。在小说中，宗教思想在三个主人公身上的不同表现以及他们不同的生活态度充分体现了作者困惑而又自信的宗教观。

关键词：内撒尼尔•霍桑；《红字》；清教主义

1. Introduction
Nathaniel Hawthorne is the most influential American romantic writer in the 19th century, most of whose works describe the contradictions of thinking and tragedies of life under the rule of Puritanism. Hawthorne was born on the 4th of July, 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts. His hometown was a place where Puritan forces were rampant, and generations of his ancestors were fanatical Puritans. So Puritan concepts were deeply rooted his mind. The strong religious atmosphere and intense religious struggle as well as Hawthorne’s family religious tradition had a great impact on Hawthorne’s mind and his later writing. Because of the special social and historical background, the writer takes on a complicate view of Puritanism. On the one hand, he vividly characterizes the evil of human nature and their salvations; on the other hand, he criticizes Puritanism, especially the Calvinism for the selfishness and hypocrisy. Under the influence of all these religious views, the writer brings a strong religious sense to his writing. His works also give full expression to the writer’s contradictory and complex religious view.