The Scarlet letter《红字》 文学评论 论文

The Symbolism in The Scarlet LetterAbstractNathaniel Hawthorne’s unique gift was for the creation of strongly symbolic stories which touch the deepest roots of man’s moral nature. The finest example is the recreation of The Scarlet Letter. It is a representative one of his ideal and artistic style and is regarded as the first American symbolic fiction and is one of the few books that is remarkable, because it deals with alienation, sin, punishment, and guilt, or the emotions that will continue to be felt by every generation. The scarlet letter “A”, which covers through the whole novel, was given a variety of symbolic meanings. He expressed his feelings, emotions, will and concept through the scarlet letter” A”, some natural scenery, and some of the major characters. The use of symbolism gives romantic thoughts and great subjective ideals to readers. This paper researches the symbolism in the novel from the following aspects: the changing symbolic meaning of the scarlet letter “A”, the colors, prison, the forest, the names of the major characters described in the novel to make the symbolism clear to the reader.Key words: The Scarlet Letter, symbolism, sin摘要霍桑创作象征主义小说的独特天赋触及人类的道德的最深根源，其代表作是《红字》。

它也是最能代表其思想和艺术风格的杰出作品，被视为美国第一部象征主义小说。

它是少数卓有建树的作品之一，因为它涉及疏远，罪恶，惩罚及内疚，或是那种使一代一代人们所感受的感情。

在《红字》中那个牵动着读者内心的鲜红字母“A”贯穿全篇，并被作家赋予了丰富的象征涵义。

霍桑通过鲜红的字母“A”，通过大自然中的一些景象，表达出了自己的某些感觉、情思、意志和观念，使作品充满了丰富的浪漫主义想象和强烈的主观色彩。

本文主要从以下几方面研究《红字》中的象征主义: 红色字母A、颜色、监狱、森林的象征意义在文中做出阐述。

关键词:红字象征意义罪恶ⅠIntroductionNathaniel Hawthorne is considered to be the first greatest American fiction writer and his greatest symbolic contribution is The Scarlet Letter, which is regarded as the first symbolic novel in the American literature. In the novel, each word, image, and event works toward a single effect. It is a complex story of guilt and sin. Hawthorne tries every bit to show the symbolic meanings of the scarlet letter “A”, the natural scenery such as the forest and the rosebush, and some of the major characters like Hester, Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, and especially Pearl for instance. His skillful use of symbolism gives artistic effect to his work in great extent.1.1. The Main Idea of the BookThe story begins in the seventeenth century Boston. A young woman, named Hester Prynne, is given the Puritan way of punishment for the sin of adultery. She wears a scarlet letter which stands for disgrace on her chest. Two years ago, she is sent alone across the ocean by her husband; however, her husband did not show up thereafter. While waiting, Hester falls in love with a young local minister and they commit adultery secretly. The secret is finally discovered b ecause of Hester’s pregnancy.Hester refuses to tell the name of the father even when she is asked to stand on the scaffold. And she chooses to bear all the shame and punishment herself. However, the story does not go on like this. Hester’s husband, Roger Chillingworth appears and tries to take revenge on the adulterer. In the end, Arthur Dimmesdale, the local minister, confesses his sin and dies. Hester then lives alone in her cottage far away from the city by herself.The heroine Hester, in the novel, breaks up the unfortunate chain of marriage in the pursuit of happiness and true love. Her action can not be accepted among the community and that is why she is treated badly by the townspeople. In contrast, Hester herself does not see the scarlet letter “A” as a disgraceful sign but a silent resistance.1.2. The word "symbol" and its meaning in The Scarlet LetterThe common definition says that a symbol is a sign or token of something. A lion, for instance, is a symbol of courage. The bald eagle is a symbol of America. In literature, matters are a little more complicated. Symbolism in literature is the deep and hiddenmeaning in a piece of work. It is often used to represent a moral or religious belief or value. Writers try to use symbolism to enrich symbolic figures to reveal the hidden heart, to express their inner feelings, and to expose the social roots that causing harm to people. We can simply put symbolism as a way to express the emotions by using solid things to tell the symbolic meanings. In his representative work The Scarlet Letter, symbolism has been fully manifested.ⅡDifferent Symbols Used in the Novel2.1. The changes of the symbolic meaning of the Scarlet Letter “A”The chief symbol in the novel is the scarlet letter “A”, which has various meanings for each character. To Hester, the “A” is a mark of unjust humiliation, while the Puritan community sees the opposite. Hester endures the unjust punishment of standing on the scaffold at noon in public view and the shame of wearing the scarlet letter “A”, which symbolizes being sinful. Dimmesdale regards the “A” as a reminder of his un-confessed sin and it pushes him to torture himself both physically and mentally. To Chillingworth, the “A” represents the shame that his wife is being guilty of the sin of adultery and the eagerness to take revenge to the adulterer. Then for Pearl, who is the most complex character, the “A”arouses her great curiosity as it symbolizes her existence and the meaning beneath it. In contrast to the scarlet letter “A”, Pearl makes an “A” out of green seaweed which represents purity and innocence.The scarlet letter “A” also changes its meaning with the progress of the plots. The “A”first appears to be a symbol of adultery, being alone and alienation, and finally changes its meaning into being able and admirable.2.1.1 AdulteryThe original meaning of the scarlet letter “A”is Hester’s adultery against her husband Roger Chillingworth. The story begins with the scene that Hester stands on the scaffold with the “A” on her chest, and it is the Puritan way of punishment for the crime of adultery. Hester’s behavior is disgraceful and she is looked down upon by others as if she is a devil from the hell that commits a terrible crime. Hester is ashamed of her sin, butshe decides to accept the treatment given to her for she holds the concept that there is real happiness and true love.2.1.2 Alone and AlienationThe scarlet letter “A” is not only a symbol of adultery, but also a symbol of being alone and alienation. As for her sin of adultery, people in the town look down upon her and treat her in an unfriendly manner. She chooses to live solitarily in her cottage, which is far away from the city and she has no friends in the world with Pearl being her only companion, so the scarlet letter “A” is also a symbol of being alone and alienation.2.1.3 Able, Admirable and AngelLater the scarlet letter “A”changes its meaning into being able, admirable and an angel. People in the community who condemn her now believe the scarlet letter stands for ability as to her beautiful needlework and for her unselfishness in offering help to the poor and sick. Hester overcomes the shame of her sin through goodness of her soul and proves that she should not have been given that kind of punishment.2.1.4 Passion for Arthur DimmesdaleThe scarlet letter “A” also stands for her love, Arthur Dimmesdale. She decorates the scarlet letter “A”, which means adultery, so carefully that shows her passion for Arthur. That she refuses to tell the name of Pearl’s father is a way to protect Arthur. Furthermore, she chooses to live in New England after she is released because it is the place where her lover stays. She wears the scarlet letter for seven years, and misses her lover in this way. Only when she meets Arthur in the forest seven years later does she decide to flee to somewhere else and throw the scarlet letter away. After Dimondale’s death, Hester and Pearl disappear for several years and later Hester comes back and picks up the scarlet letter again.2.2. PearlPearl, the daughter of Hester Prynne, is the most complex and symbol in the book. For Hester, she is sort of comfort from god as well as a kind of punishment given by God. The townspeople refer to her as the offspring of the devil.On one hand, Hawthorne uses Pearl as fruit of love between Hester and Dimmesdaleand she is a living scarlet letter. Pearl is the scarlet letter, because if she had never been born, Hester would have never been found guilty of adultery, and thus never would have had to wear that burden upon her chest. Without that burden, Hester would have led a much more appropriate life than the one she had throughout the novel.Hawthorne gave a special description on Pearl’s particular passion towards the scarlet letter which shows the implied relationship between Pearl and the letter. The two are both the fruit of true love and the symbol of bright future of human beings. There are four times that Pearl’s attitude towards the scarlet letter is described. The first is that when Pearl is born into this world, the first thing that comes into her eyes is not the smile of her mother but the bright scarlet letter “A”and she shows great passion towards it. The second time is when Pearl grows up and she always plays with the scarlet letter, furthermore, she would be very happy every time when she hits the scarlet letter with seaweeds. Another description is that Pearl tries to emulate her mother by placing seaweed in the shape of an “A” on her own chest; however, it is bright green in contrast to the scarlet letter “A” on Hester. The last description is Pearl would not see Hester as her mother only when Hester puts on the scarlet letter. By acknowledging the letter on her mother’s chest, she plays an active role in Hester’s punishment rather than a passive one. These detailed descriptions indicate the absolute free love in the world.On the other hand, Pearl is the reflection of Hester’s character in many aspects. She looks down upon the Puritans and throws stone towards them. It seems that she inherits the passion and hatred that Hester possesses. As is discriminated by people around, Pearl has an unfriendly attitude towards all the things around her.To Dimmesdale, Pearl is a symbol of a living conscience. She represents the driving force to confess his concealed sin. In the second scaffold scene, she asks Dimmesdale to stand on the scaffold with her and her mother, but when he refuses she eagerly pulls her hand away, saying he is not bold and not true. Dimmesdale is again seen to deny public recognition of his daughter. After Dimmesdale denies her request, Pearl wipes away the kiss that he presents earlier. In the final scaffold scene, Pearl’s completes her role as a symbol. Dimmesdale publicly acknowledges his daughter and Hester then dies. Pearl kisses her father signifying the end of her father’s anguish.2.3. The ForestIn The Scarlet Letter, the forest symbolizes much more than one could imagine. Each character brings out a different side of the forest; however, the forest also brings out a different side in each character. It is dark and secret. It is where people come to let loose and be themselves. The forest track leads away from the settlement out into the wilderness where all signs of civilization vanish. The forest track is precisely the escape route from the dictates of law and religion to the Promised Land to the west where men can breathe free. For some, the forest may be a place of evil thoughts and wrong doings, but for others it is a place of happiness and freedom. The open air of the forest is exhilarating, but cold. Nothing is known in the wilderness, everything is up for grabs. There is no one around to stop you from going to the devil. And when you do, he is right there waiting for you.On the one hand, the forest is an open door to love and freedom for both Hester and Dimmesdale. It is a place where the letter on their bodies can no longer have any effect on them. It is a place where natural law is opposed to the artificial strict community with its man-made Puritan laws. In this the forest represents a thing of truth, whether it is good or bad. However, in Pearl’s eyes, the forest has a totally different concept, which is like a best friend. It treats her as if she were one of its own. She is able to run and play freely to her innocent heart’s content. The light is chasing her no matter where she goes. She can do that because her heart is innocent and the forest knows that.In the forest, young girl, middle-aged man and woman may throw away all the reluctance and finally be themselves under security and pull out secret thoughts. The forest brings out the natural semblance and natural personality of individuals who use it correctly. In the eyes of Hester and Dimmesdale, their behavior is not immoral. They prefer the openness and freedom that the forest presents over the strict, cruel element of Puritan civilization. If the forest represents a key to the handcuffs Hester and Dimmesdale have been forced to wear, all that they have to do is to break it. Although they choose not to break it, they begin to dwell on the things that they have done to break the bind. Therefore, the forest, nature’s dominion, strikes one as the only place where true passion and honesty stay and there, Hester conceals her secret sin with Dimmesdale,and Hester’s true evil spirit is present ed.2.4. The ScaffoldThe scaffold symbolizes many aspects of human nature throughout the course of the book. It symbolizes the shame and guilt of sin along with love and punishment. For example, when Hester commits adultery with Dimmesdale, the sin is committed out of love. After the secret is discovered, she is portrayed out of the society. When she stands on the scaffold, she hides her scarlet letter because the letter is viewed as a symbol of sin, shame, guilt, and punishment.Besides serving as a form of public punishment and humiliation, the scaffold in The Scarlet Letter also helps reveal the development of the story and characters involved with the sin of adultery. In The Scarlet Letter, there are three scaffold scenes which all represent sin. The first scaffold scene is when Hester Prynne is accused of being an adulteress. The scaffold scene represents committing a sin. The second scaffold scene which represents public sin is when Dimmesdale sits upon the scaffold during the night. What in his mind is the sin that he has committed by not standing on the scaffold seven years ago when Hester was accused. The thoughts are so overbearing that he screams. The third and final scaffold scene is when Dimmesdale stands on the scaffold and he calls for Hester and Pearl. He then reveals his sin and dies. The final scaffold scene represents revealing sin and repenting sin. The scaffold scenes are the main structures of the book and give the books its theme of sin and guilt. It could be viewed as a dark and evil place, but in the eyes of others the scaffold could be a trusted safe shelter.2.5. The Prison and the rosebushThe prison represents crime and punishment. Being presented in the opening chapter of the novel, the prison is a symbol of isolation and alienation, foreshadowing the life that Hester will lead. Unlike the gloomy prison, the rosebush lives wild with no bounds by society and it makes a sharp contrast against the cruel Puritan law. Hawthorne describes the prison as a black flower of civilized society. While Hester lives in the prison of alienation, Dimmesdale lives in the prison of his unconfessed guilt, and Chillingworth is imprisoned by his revenge. Pearl is the only one who remains free and innocent.2.6. The Natural SceneryThe sunlight is one of the most obvious symbols of them all. At the beginning of the story, as Hester is blinking in the sunlight, which symbolizes her separation from society and isolation from the rest of the world that she is unused to sunlight. While Pearl plays in the forest, the sunlight seems to chase her no matter where she is standing. At the same time it will not cast a single glimmer of light onto Hester, until she removes her scarlet letter. It does not shine on Hester when she has the letter because the letter itself is not pure, even though everything underneath the letter has become pure through the years. Then at that point, the sun breaks through the dense trees and gazes at her. The light is a symbol of purity and truth.2.7. The ColorsRed is a color that will make people think more, therefore, the novel displays it in a variety of content. Red is the color of blood and fire, a symbol of passionate love which symbolizes life, power and enthusiasm. However, under the rule of the strict Puritanism, red symbolizes love and the source of life as social disgrace. Hester and Dimmesdale could not suppress the impulse of youth and the love for each other and eventually become sinners of God. Despite the persecution, disdained by the world, Hester did not give in. She firmly believes that a brighter time will surely come; it will be true love and happiness. Ironically, the innocent Pearl fashions a letter “A” to wear herself, but she makes it out of seaweed that is bright green, the color of life itself.III. The Effect of Using Symbolism in the bookHawthorne's symbolism in The Scarlet Letter is distinctive. This technique helps to deepen the theme of the story and fire the readers' imagination. It also reveals the true social and historical realities, describes in excellent images of a hidden spiritual world, and also show s Hawthorne’s sense of mysticism and religious views. It truly reflects the desire stored in the heart of Hawthorne and reveals the hypocrisy of the religious narrowness of humanity. Hawthorne’s rich and unique symbolic practices, makes the symbolic literary fiction an independent species in America. That is why Hawthorne iswell deserved to be regarded as the symbolic poet and The Scarlet Letter is honored with the first American simplistic novel.3.1. PolysemyA typical example is the meaning of the scarlet letter, which is a symbol of Puritan punishment, a cruel means to deal with Hester; a monument of Dimmesdale’s past crime, a stimulation of Chilliworth’s revenge.3.2. IntegritySymbolism is widely used from every incident, detail, and character to social background. It grows to be a network, which makes the entire novel connected together into an organic whole.3.3. OriginalityAccording to the traditional rhetoric of symbolism, two things that are made into symbols must be very similar or quite opposite of each other. However, symbolism in The Scarlet Letter sometimes even breaks that tradition and makes completely subjective things into symbol. The scarlet letter “A” that Hester wears, for example, is linked with a meteor which shapes like an “A”in the sky, though the two things are not related. Hawthorne wrote like this to express the true feelings of the characters.IV. ConclusionTo conclude this paper, I would like to say that symbolism shows the greatness of an author’s ability to supply meaning s to his work and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s use of symbolism in The Scarlet Letter shows his greatness to produce a novel which highly exposes the unfairness of Calvinism and the unjust treatment given to common people. These are the reasons why Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is American Literature’s most famous symbolic novel ever to be written.References1.董衡巽,《美国文学简史》（修订本），人民文学出版社，2003年1月2.佟希仁，《外国文学名著博览》，北京出版社出版，1991年12月第一版3.吴伟仁，《美国文学史及选读》（第2册），P209，外语教学与研究出版社，19904.Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter (1962), the Ohio State UP5.“The Summary of the Symbolism in “The Scarlet letter”,/u/4af8ea80010006zl，2007-3-14。