BY----------------------------CLASS: 3 GRADE: 2002SUPERVISED BY---------------------------June 2006ContentsChapter One: Biography of NathanielHawthorne…………………………………...P1Chapter Tw Depravity---the Origin of the ScarletLetter…………………………..P2Chapter Three: Hester Prynne's Resurrection --- From Sufferingand Redemption to Salvation……………………………………………………………………………...P5Conclusion………………………………………………………………………….P10References…………………………………………………………………………..P11Hester Prynne---ResurrectionAbstract: The Scarlet Letter makes the American writerNathaniel Hawthorne known all around the world. Hawthorne is apious Christian, and is deeply influenced by the theology.
He's so much indulged in the religious doctrine that peoplecan find the reflection of the God almost everywhere in hisworks. After reading The Scarlet Letter, one is mostlyimpressed by the spirit of The Bible the story depicted. Thebook chiefly discusses sin and how to atone for it. HesterPrynne is the heroine of the fiction. This paper researchesher fate to illustrate the influence of The Bible toHawthorne. Hester Prynne commits adultery and is forced towear a scarlet letter “A” on her breast. At the beginning, sheencounters all kinds of sufferings, both from the society andfrom her own soul. However, she realizes her sin and tries herbest to atone for it. And she dose not choose to avoid herfault. Finally, through her endeavor, God forgives her. Inshort, sin and atoning for sin, that is the purpose of thispaper.
Keywords: The Scarlet Letter., Hester Prynne, The Bible, sinand atonement.
摘要：《红字》使美国作家纳撒尼尔霍桑誉满全球。霍桑是一个虔诚的基督徒，并深受神学的影响。他是如此沉迷于宗教的教义之中，人们几乎可以发现神在他的每部作品中无处不在。读完《红字》，给人印象最深的莫过于故事描绘的《圣经》的精神。该书主要讨论了关于罪与赎罪的问题。海丝特白兰是小说的女主人公。本文主要研究她的一生以说明《圣经》对霍桑的影响。海丝特白兰犯了通奸罪，并被迫在胸口上带一个大写的红色字母“A”。一开始，她遭遇了各种各样的磨难，既有来自社会的也有来自她自己精神上的。然而，她认识到了自己的罪行并尽最大努力去赎罪，并且她并没有选择逃避责罚。最后，通过她的努力，神原谅了她。简言之，本文的主要目的就是罪行以及赎罪。
Chapter One: Biography of Nathaniel HawthorneWith the publication of The Scarlet Letter in 1850, NathanielHawthorne became one of the greatest writer at that time andbuilt his reputation as a major American author. Since thattime on, people began to take great interest in all aspects ofhis life and a great many biographical and critical studieshad been written about him and his works. He is also becomingmore and more popular and familiar with Chinese readers. Sincethe Chinese translation of The scarlet Letter appeared in1950s, scholars and readers in this country have shown anever-increasing interest in his works.
Hawthorne was born on the fourth of July, 1804 in Salem,Massachusetts. Some of his ancestors were big shots inseventeenth-century New England, which was under the controlof Puritanism. One of them was a colonial magistrate,notorious for his participation in the persecution of Quakers,and another was a judge at the Salem Witchcraft Trail in 1692.
Gradually, the family fortune declined. Hawthorne's father wasa sea captain, who died in an accident and left his mother andhim behind to struggle to live for themselves. Young Hawthornewas quite aware of the misdeeds of his Puritan ancestors, andthis awareness made him believe that evil was at the core ofhuman life. To some extent, Hawthorne wrote some of his books,such as The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gamblesto try to make up for the sin of his ancestors.
Hawthorne's writing skills can be concluded as follows:
Firstly, all his life, Hawthorne seems to be indulged in hissense of sin and evil in life. Reading his books, one cannotbut be overwhelmed by the black vision which these booksreveal. Evil exists in the human heart all the time. Forinstance, in the short story, “ Earth's Holocaust,” we canfind that, though all symbols of tradition and the past havebeen burned in the bonfire of the life of the New World, thesource of evil---the human heart, remains intact. Everyonepossesses some evil secret as tales like “ Young GoodmanBrown” set out to prove. Everyone tries to cover up itsinnermost evil in the way the minister Dimmesdale in TheScarlet Letter tries to pretend how pure and pious he is. Evilseems to be man's birthmarkSecondly, to Hawthorne, sin will surely get punished, one wayor another. As a matter of fact, he was said to be alwaystroubled by the thought that the decline of his family'sfortune had something to do with the sins of his Puritanancestors. Hawthorne deeply believes that “the wrong-doing ofone generation lives into the successive ones”(The House ofthe Seven Gambles). It is also interesting to note thatHawthorne believes that evil educates. What Hawthorne seems toprove is that man can get experience from the crime whichbrings about the disaster.
In short, to tell the truth and yet not to offend, that is allHawthorne tries to achieve in his works.
“Chapter Tw Depravity---the Origin of the Scarlet LetterThe story begins in seventeenth-century Boston, which is underPuritan command. A young woman, named Hester Prynne, is sentahead to America by her husband---an old and ugly scholar.
However, for many years, he himself doesn't arrive. Obviously,it is possible that he has been lost in the sea. While waitingfor her husband, Hester and a young local minister calledArthur Dimmesdale fall in love with each other. They commitadultery secretly. Because of Hester's Pregnancy, the secretis finally discovered.
According to The Bible, everyone is sinful. That is theopinion of the original sin: when God creates the world, Hefirst creates a man called Adam and then a woman called Eve.
They live happily in the Garden of Eden. God tells them thatthey can eat every kind of fruit in the garden except those onthe tree of knowledge of good and evil. Instigated by theserpent, the two can not control their curiosity and violatesGod's order and eat the fruits from that particular tree. Thatenrage
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