摘 要

第十九世纪美国浪漫主义作家纳撒尼尔霍桑善于运用象征主义来强调作品的主题，从他的代表作《红字》中便可以看出。在这部小说中，他对人物名字和红字A的象征使用使作品更成功。其实，红字的意思随着时间的推移是变化的，女主人公的形象也是如此。因此，本文从红字A、人物和场景的象征意义入手分析象征手法在《红字》的运用，从而探讨小说中的文学，道德和宗教主题，以理解作者的艺术创作，道德关怀和宗教立场。

关键词：纳撒尼尔·霍桑；《红字》； 风景；象征意义；红字A

Content

1.Introduction------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1

2.1.The symbolic meanings of the scarlet letter A------------------------------------------3

2.1.1 "A" in the early time in prison----------------------------------------------------------3

2.1.2 "A" in the middle time out of prison---------------------------------------------------3

2.1.3 "A" in the later years---------------------------------------------------------------------4

2.2 The symbolic meanings of the characters-----------------------------------------------5

2.2.1 Hester Prynne-----------------------------------------------------------------------------5

2.2.2 Mr. Dimmesdale--------------------------------------------------------------------------6

2.2.3 Roger Chillingworth and Pearl---------------------------------------------------------7

2.2.4 Pearl----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------8

2.3 The symbolic meanings of scenes-------------------------------------------------------8

2.3.1 Prison and rose---------------------------------------------------------------------------8

2.3.2 Forest--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------9

2.3.3 River---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------9

3. Conclusion----------------------------------------------------------------------------------10

Works Cited------------------------------------------------------------------------------------11

Bibliography-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------12

An Analysis of the Symbolic Meanings in The Scarlet Letter

1. Introduction

Nathaniel Hawthorne is the greatest American romantic novelist of the nineteenth century, and he is the founder of the American psychoanalytic novel. Nathaniel Hawthorne was deeply affected by the tenets of original sins in Puritanism, which had a deep impact on his later work. Hawthorne's life left a lot of books, including the novel The Scarlet Letter, The House of the Seven Gables, and short stories The Marble Faun, Mosses from an Old Manse, and Twice Told Tales.

The Scarlet Letter told a story of a woman Hester Prynne who was punished to wear a scarlet A in her bosom, which stood for the crime of adultery. The novel begins with the pretty young lady who tried to settle down in Boston with her old and ugly husband Chillingworth. But Chillingworth did not appear for years. During this time, Hester committed the adultery with a local minister Dimmesdale, and gave birth to a girl named Pearl. Facing the terrible punishment, Hester refused to give his lover’s name away for protecting him and tried her best to raise her daughter. But Dimmesdale still lived as an upright minister. Years later, her husband Chillingworth came to the town and found out the whole truth. At last, the minister died due to the guilt and the disease, admitting his crime of adultery with Prynne.

The Scarlet Letter is widely studied at home and abroad especially in the use of symbolism. Ren Xiaojin and Wei Ling reveal that the symbol and the prototype are fuzzy in The Scarlet Letter（121-125）. Jin Xiaolin analyzes the symbolism of the works and finds that symbolism in the novel has ambiguity characteristics, systematic characteristics, and metaphorical characteristics. In many studies, the symbols of the wilderness and the forest are most talked about. Liu Guozhi, Zheng Qingqing said that the forest image has two-side meaning of good and evil in their analysis（104-108）. Ni Ling points out that the forest image reflects Hawthorne’s identification of human nature and tentative thoughts on the liberation of humanity.

In my article, I will focus on analyzing the use of symbolism in The Scarlet Letter by exploring the symbolic meanings of the scarlet letter A, of the characters and of different scenes so as to interpret the literary, moral and religious themes represented in the novel and thereby understand the author’s artistic creation, moral concern and religious stand. Therefore, my thesis will be divided into three chapters. Chapter one will focus on exploring the changing symbolic meanings of the letter A at different times. Chapter two will mainly analyze the symbolic connotations of the names of the four main characters. Chapter three will focus on studying the symbolic significances of scenes in the novel.

2. Demonstration

The symbol is the most complex metaphorical device of word game. In its simplest sense, it is a comparison between a concrete entity and an abstract idea. For example, the 'rose' as representing 'love', 'youth' or 'beauty', is a symbol. But, in its deeper meaning any object, image, event, story, or anything that can be interpreted as having broader conceptual meaning outside the literal meaning is said to be symbolic. （Yu 163）