美国文学史《红字》

Hester also becomes a kind of compassionate （富有同情心） maternal figure as a result of her experiences. Hester is also maternal with respect to society: she cares for the poor and brings them food and clothing. The shame attached to her scarlet letter is long gone.
Protagonist: Her husband: Her lover: Daughter:
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Hester Prynne Chillingworth Dimmesdale Pearl
Hester's husband, a scholar much older than she is, sent her ahead to America, but he never arrived in Boston. Then she thought he had been lost at sea. While waiting for her husband, Hester had an affair with Dimmesdale and gave birth to a child named Pearl. Her community forced her to wear a letter "A" for "adulterer(通奸者)". But then her husband showed up and wanted to revenge.
The the letter’s meaning shifts as time passes. Originally intended to mark Hester as an adulterer（通奸者）, the “A” eventually comes to stand for “Able(能干).”
A blessing on the righteous Colony of the Massachusetts. Where iniquity is dragged out into the sunshine!
狱吏大喊道，“祝福光明正大的马萨诸塞殖民地，罪恶 都得拉出来见见太阳”时，证明了清教徒的一个信念： 清教徒相信罪恶渗透到整个世界，应该被挖出，被曝光， 并公开受惩罚。事实上对海斯特的惩罚不只是镇民们想 寻求美德所致。事实上是要引起那些窥淫癖者的沉思； 惩罚海斯特以此来镇民显示他们的虔诚——或者让他们 相信自己是虔诚的。然而他们并没有从海斯特身上看到 自己潜在的罪恶。
No one bothers to look beyond the letter "A" and see the virtuous, charitable woman inside. On the other end of the spectrum, the Reverend Dimmsdale, Hester's partner in the act, maintain his righteous image to the town, but is internally racked by his guilty and shame.
The founders of a new colony, whatever Utopia of human virtue and happiness they might originally project, have invariably recognised it among their earliest practical necessities to allot a portion of the virgin soil as a cemetery, and another portion as the site of a prison. Analysis: no matte how optimistic the founders of new colonies may be, the narrator tells us, they invariably provide for a prison and cemetery almost immediately for they know that misbehavior, evil and death are unavoidable. This a world that has already "fallen".
Finally, Dimmesdale confessed all the things publicly and fell dead. Frustrated in his revenge, Chilling worth died a year later. Hester and Pearl left Boston. Pear married a aristocrat and established a family of her own. Many years later when Hester died, she was buried next to Dimmesdale. The two shared a single tombstone, on which there was a scarlet “ A ”.
Thank You！！！
"Mother, " said little pearl, "the sunshine does not love you. it runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom(胸口). now, see! "O brook(小河)! O foolish and tiersome little brook!" cried Pearl, after listening a while to its talk."Why art thou so sad? Pluck up a spirit and do not be all the time sighing and murmuring!" Analysis: In Scarlet Letter children are portrayed as more perceptive and honest than adults, and Pearl is the most perceptive of them all. Pearl is more than a mere punishment to her mother: she is also a blessing.
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The Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hauthorne
Setting (Time): Middle of the seventeenth century Setting (Place) : Boston, Massachusetts Protagonist: Hester Prynne