英语专业试析《红字》的女主人公.docx

1、英语专业试析红字的女主人公郑州大学西亚斯国际学院 试析红字的女主人公An Analysis of the Heroine in The Scarlet Letter 姓 名学 籍 号专 业英语级 别系 别国际教育学院指导教师 填表日期： 年 4 月 20 日An Analysis of the Heroine in The Scarlet Letter试析红字的女主人公ID NO. 20061103137Yuan Tian (Jane Yuan)Submitted as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Ba

2、chelor of EnglishSIAS International College of Zhengzhou UniversityApril 20, 2010Faculty Advisor: Zhang FengweiAcknowledgementI would like to express my sincere gratitude to all those who helped me during the writing of the thesis.My deepest gratitude goes first and foremost to Ms. Zhang Fengwei, my

3、 supervisor, for her constant encouragement and guidance. Without her illuminating instruction, insightful criticism and guidance, the completion of this thesis would not have been possible.Second, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Ms. Han Ximiao, who led me into the world of literat

4、ure. I am also greatly indebted to the professors and teachers at the Department of Foreign Languages, from whose devoted teaching and enlightening lectures I have benefited a lot and academically prepared for the thesis.Last my thanks would go to my beloved family for their loving considerations an

5、d great confidence in me all through these years. I also owe my sincere gratitude to my friends and my fellow classmates who gave me their help and helped me work out my problems during the difficult course of the thesis. AbstractNathaniel Hawthorne (18041864), a novelist and short story writer, is

6、an important figure in the history of American literature. The scarlet letter, Hawthornes masterpiece, tells a simple and dramatic story. It was very popular and widely read. It has been considered to be the most famous work of Hawthorne. As for the heroine Hester Prynne who suffered humiliation in

7、this novel, some think that she possesses a courage which dares to rebel. Some hold that Hester is the weak who submits to fate. This paper attempts to analyze the compromise and rebellion of Hester Prynne and the reasons of dual character of Hester Prynne. This thesis mainly consists of four chapte

8、rs. The first chapter is an introduction. The second chapter mainly focuses on the dual character of Hester Prynne which includes compromise and rebellion. The third chapter touches on the reasons of dual character of Hester Prynne from the perspectives of reasons of Hester Prynnes compromise and re

9、asons of Hester Prynnes rebellion. The fourth chapter is a conclusion. Keywords: Hester Prynne, compromise, rebellion, reason 摘 要纳撒尼尔霍桑（1804-1864）作为美国小说家以及短篇小说作家，是美国文学史上的一个重要人物。他的代表作红字讲述了一个简单而又富有戏剧性的故事,但却是一部非常流行并被广泛阅读的小说，被认为是霍桑最著名的作品。对于小说中的这位饱受凌辱的女主人公海斯特白兰，一些人认为她具有一种敢于反抗的勇气；一些人则认为她是屈从命运的弱者。这篇论文主要分析海

10、斯特的妥协性和反抗性这一双重性格以及它形成的原因。本文主要由四章构成。第一章是简介。第二章论述了海斯特妥协性与反抗性并存的双重性格。第三章从构成海斯特的妥协性和反抗性的两种性格的原因角度论述了海斯特双重性格形成的根源。第四章是结论。关键词：海斯特白兰，妥协性，反抗性，原因Outline I Introduction 1 II Dual Character of Heroine Hester Prynne.22.1 Hester Prynnes Compromise.2 2.2 Hester Prynnes Rebellion.4 III Reasons of Dual Character of

11、 Hester Prynne.8 3.1 Reasons of Hester Prynnes Compromise.8 3.2 Reasons of Hester Prynnes Rebellion.9IV Conclusion.10Bibliography.12An Analysis of the Heroine of the Scarlet LetterI Introduction Nathaniel Hawthorne (18041864), a novelist and short story writer, is an important figure in the history

12、of American literature. He attended Bowdoin College (18211824). In the school his friends included Longfellow and Franklin Pierce, who became the 14th president of the United States. As is well known, whatever society it is, especially the class society, it is full of conflicts. Nathaniel Hawthorne

13、who lived in the 19th century in America possessed a deeply Puritan consciousness and New England Transcendentalism. This kind of background determined that Hawthorne was a suspicious person. He realized that Puritanism had greatly suppressed the human nature and brought destruction to peoples life,

14、 but he could not get rid of such cultural traditions which influenced him imperceptibly. Hawthornes best-known works include The Scarlet Letter and The House of The Seven Gables. Of the two famous works, The Scarlet Letter was very popular and widely read. It has been considered to be the most famo

15、us work of Hawthorne. This novel tells the story of Hester Prynne who has a baby after adultery with a young pastor and leads a new life. The heroine Hester of The Scarlet Letter possesses a dual character of rebellion and compromise because of Hawthornes background and the Puritan community of the

16、day. The Scarlet Letter arouses more and more interests and attentions from generation to generation because of its poetic language, its fluent words and its keen psychological analysis, etc. As for the heroine Hester Prynne who suffered humiliation in this novel, some think that she possesses a cou

17、rage which dares to rebel. Some hold that Hester is the weak who submits to fate. This paper attempts to analyze the compromise and rebellion of Hester Prynne and the reasons of dual character of Hester Prynne. This thesis mainly consists of four chapters. The first chapter is an introduction. The s

18、econd chapter mainly focuses on the dual character of Hester Prynne which includes compromise and rebellion. The third chapter touches on the reasons of dual character of Hester Prynne from the perspectives of reasons of Hester Prynnes compromise and reasons of Hester Prynnes rebellion. The fourth c

19、hapter is a conclusion. II Dual Character of Heroine Hester Prynne2.1 Hester Prynnes Compromise.The heroine Hester Prynne was a young and beautiful woman. She had an affair with someone unknown to the community she lived in. Because she had married to an old man Roger Chillingworth, Hesters behavior

20、 was considered to be adultery. Under the pressure of the Puritan community Hester presented her compromise on one side. Firstly, it was such a community that compelled Hester Prynne to wear a scarlet letter as punishment for giving birth to an illegitimate child. The first and most obvious is that

21、Hesters “A” stands for adultery which means womens frailty and sinful passion. At the beginning of the novel, everyone around Hester saw that she was pregnant and that she gave birth to a child who then lived by her side. The child was a reminder of what she was and had done in public eyes. Hester o

22、beyed people living in the community and wore “A” on the breast of her gown. That means she had compromised with the society on this matter. She felt ashamed of her behaviors. This can be seen in the way she wore “A” on her breast to show herself to the community. She dressed in gray and dark color:

23、 There seemed to be no longer anything in Hesters face for love to dwell upon; nothing in Hesters form, though majestic and statue-like, that Passion would ever dream of clasping in its embrace; nothing in Hesters bosom to make it ever again the pillow of Affection. (Hawthorne 158)Secondly, Hester s

24、hows her compromise by her failure to completely achieve her pursuit for happiness and love. The North America colonial society in the 17th century, where Hester lived in, was dominated by the religious theocracy, gradually poisoning humans spirit like opium. Even though Hester had a strong desire t

25、o pursue a happy life, the restriction of the religious belief forced her compromise. Deep down her heart, Hester admitted the sacred love with Dimmesdale, at the same time she deemed herself to have violated the religious doctrines. The letter “A” she was always wearing showed that the others were

26、all sinners if she was a sinner, but she tried to consider herself as the greatest sinner. The occasionally encounter with Dimmesdale brought her momentary relief, but soon after that she was filled up with regrets and sins again. To break down the captivity of the ingrained religious doctrines, Hes

27、ter had endeavored to change her life, however, eventually all her attempts had been proved to be in vain, trapping herself in the huge suffocating invisible net and struggling to death.Thirdly, now that she can not get rid of the sense of guilt, as well as she believes the existence of God, she has

28、 to fear the punishment of God upon her, especially upon her only babyPearl. Every day she anxiously watched her child who grew up gradually. And she was afraid of finding a gloomy or wild personality on Pearl. Hesters fear was consistent with the sin because of giving the birth of the baby. Althoug

29、h she dreamily realized the root of womens liberation that is to overthrow the whole social system, Hester mistakenly believed that her misfortune was caused by her own behaviors. She did not fully believe in religion. And she even denied religious law. However, she hoped her daughter to become a de

30、vout Christian. It seems that as long as Pearl strictly acted in accordance with the Puritan laws, Pearl could avoid the same fate as her own one.2.2 Hester Prynnes RebellionEven though she shows her compromise under the pressure of the Puritan community, Hester does not submit to fate and never sho

31、ws regrets for what she has done. She shows her rebellion well. Firstly, Hester has a passionate and loyal love to her lover Dimmesdale. Hester as an abstract scarlet letter came from a humble background. Her parents were impoverished but honest. She heard no more of her husband after he stayed in England two years ago. So Hester chose to fall in love with Dimmesdale. And also Hester believed that her love for Dimmesdale was just