美国文学史期末论《红字》象征意义

《美国文学史》期末论文

2015-2016学年第二学期

论文题目: 论《红字中的象征主义》

英文题目:An Analysis of the Symbolism of the

Scarlet Letter

姓名: 王舒

学号:1345752211

专业: 英语

日期: 2015 年 6 月29 日

An Analysis of the Symbolism of The Scarlet Letter Chapter One Introduction

1.1Research Background

1.1.1 Life Career and Literary Career

1.1.2 The Origin of The Scarlet Letter

1.2Purpose and Significance of the Study

1.3Organization of the Thesis

Chapter Two The Organization of Symbolism

2.1 Symbolic Meaning of the Main Characters’ Names

2.1.1 Hester Prynne

2.1.2 Arthur Dimmesdale

2.1.3 Roger Chillingworth

2.1.4 Pearl

2.2 Symbolic Meaning of the Letter “A”

2.2.1 Adultery

2.2.2 Alone

2.2.3 Angel

2.2.4 Arthur Dimmesdale

Chapter Four Conclusion

An Analysis of the Symbolism of the Scarlet Letter

Chapter one Introduction

1.1Research Background

1.1.1 Life Career and Literary Career

Hawthorne was born in Salem in 1804. His family has a long Puritan tradition. His father is a sea captain, died in Dutch when Hawthorne was only four. And his mother relied on relatives in rearing the children. Besides, some of his ancestors were a judge relate to the Salem Witchcraft Trails of 1692. Therefore, the family

gradually fortune declined. Young Hawthorne was witnessed the process and aware of the misdeeds of his puritan ancestors, so he had deep understanding of evil in human life, people called “that blackness in Hawthorne”. This affected many works of him and stated truth in his books.

He aspired to be a writer in his middle age. In 1821, he went to Bowdoin College where he made friends with Wadsworth Longfellow and Franklin Pierce, who was the fourteenth President of the United States. Franklin helped him when he was in financial difficulties. After graduation, he spent 12 years in seclusion on literary apprenticeship, reading widely and practicing writing. In 1839, Hawthorne has worked in Boston customs for two years. Later, he entered into Brook Farmland and contacted with the idea of transcendental. Then, Hawthorne went to Salem customs, in which affected the work “The Scarlet Latter” directly.

In 1842, Hawthorne got married and lived in Concord, made friends with his neighbors, Emerson and Thoreau and others. Finally, he died in 1864 and buried in Sleepy Valley cemetery. Hawthorne’s first novel is about his school life, which was a failure novel. So he burnt all his copies in great rage. Later, he published a collection of short stories, called Twice-Told T ales in 1837, which attracted some popular and critical attention. Another successful short story collection, Mosses from an Old Manse came out in 1846 and brought him great fame and made him finally financially comfortable. In 1850, a novel, The Scarlet Letter came out, which made him known by others and made his name as a writer of no small talent. In 1851, The House of the Seven Gables came out, to be followed by The Blithedale