摘要

作为美国19世纪浪漫主义小说的代表，霍桑因其写作中运用心理分析的方法，开创了美国小说的新时代，对美国文学乃至世界文学的创作产生了重要影响，其作品《红字》是他历久不衰的代表作之一。小说《红字》在清教主义思想中关于人的原罪和内在堕落理论的影响下，对海斯特的人物多重形象进行了刻画，打破了当时文学界单一的人物形象刻画的模式。霍桑笔下的海斯特经历了从独立反叛到自我回归的性格变化，从一个独立的敢于斗争的女权主义者到回归传统宗教思想的代言人。女主人公海斯特在清教主义思想的影响下，同时受当时女权主义运动的影响，被霍桑塑造为一个追求自我独立，渴望平等，追求真爱的新时代女性。

关键词：《红字》；反叛；归赎；清教主义  

ABSTRACT

Hawthorne starts a new era of American novels by using his psychological analysis technique, which has important influence on creation of American literature and the world literature. The Scarlet Letter is one of his lasting masterpieces. Under the Puritan thoughts of original sin and inner depravity, Hawthorne’s depiction of Hester’s multiple characters breaks the pattern of depicting single personality in the literature. Hester’s character experiences from rebellion to regression,and she changes from a independent and brave feminist to a spokeswoman of the traditional religion.  Hester, the heroine of the romance, is influenced by the Puritan thoughts. Meanwhile, she is portrayed as a new icon of women with pursuit of self-reliance, indifference to rumors, and eagerness for quality and love.

Key words: The Scarlet Letter;rebellion; regression; Puritanism
 
Chapter One Introduction
Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1804. He was the offspring of a eminent family among the immigrants. His ancestors were Protestants, and his father once was a sea captain. In several years, Hawthorne left Salem and then entered College in Maine. For a time in the 1830's, he edited a magazine in Boston, and then worked at the customs office. He lived for a few months at Brook Farm, one of the famous New England experiments in communal living. And he lived in a time when capitalism was developing, and that there was a great transformation from the old system to a new one. As Nina Baym(1986:57) asserts in his book: By 1849 Hawthorne had begun writing The Scarlet Letter, his dismissal from the customs office in June of that year and the trauma of his mother's death in July having been the catalysts. The Custom House experience has given him immediate insights into the institutional workings of a social system, while the death of his mother, recorded with unparalleled intensity in his notebooks, brought psychic disturbances uniquely to the surface (Euston 1996: 189). So, it is in this situation that The Scarlet Letter came into being.