浅谈《红字》中海斯特的性格特征 英语论文.doc

浅谈红字中海斯特的性格特征【关键词】清教主义；反叛；个人主义；妥协i. introductionnathaniel hawthorne used to be a controversial writer in america in the 19th century and attracted a divided critical audience. on the one hand, those who do not like him criticize his work for being“not good for anything”, on the other hand, those who appreciate him for his ability to explore the inner core of his character. but the scarlet letter, nathaniel hawthornes masterpiece of romance, has been admired by the readers all over the world ever since its publication. although there were probably many other novels written during this period that are stylistically equally good, this work has remained a mainstay. in this novel, hesters character attracts me most. in this paper, i would like to analyze hester prynnes characters in the following aspects.ii. hester prynnes characterhesters character is never meant to be easy to define. she is a real, living, growing, changing woman in a world of falseness and asexuality, and she cannot simply be labeled as the cold-hearted sinner the puritans make her out to be. hester is neither a sinner nor a saint, but a woman trapped in a loveless marriage and in love with the wrong man, living in an unforgiving society that she can never relate to. its obvious that no matter what choices hester makes for herself, she will be forced to give up something hugely important to her. she can either betray her love for dimmesdale and her own self-respect by giving in to her husband and to puritan custom, or she can choose to stick by her principles and, in turn, trade away both her freedom and her reputation. under the harsh circumstances, hester seems to do the best she possibly can, constantly showing both willful determination and loving kindness despite all of her mistakes.hester is beautiful and kind. she is brave in seeking love and happiness, in confronting the harsh reality, in sticking to doing good things for her fellowmen on a new, honest basis and finally won their love and admiration again. hester is one of the few women having strong personality in american literature. in this paper, i pay my attention to some of hesters character that impresses me most.a. hesters rebellion character1.hesters rebellion against puritanism the name puritan was applied to those john calvin doctrine adherents in the 16th century england and new england. those people strongly deny the absolute church priest interpretation of god doctrines. they fell that all men have the right and obligation to read and study the bible, for it alone, is the word of god. all the true believers are equally endowed with grace. and although ministers should be men great in learning, men who can teach the true meaning of the scriptures, they are no more divine than any other devout man or woman. in a word, these puritans wanted to purify the english church and their ceaseless efforts to purify the english church, to purge it of each“taint and corruptions”, earn them the name puritans, and for their attacks on the church hierarchy at whose head stood their king, they suffer a royal hatred and government persecution that drove them to seek a haven, a new jeruasalem, on the barren coast of new england.the puritans acknowledge only the authority of the“pure word of god” as expressed in the bible. they wish to“purify” the church of its catholic heritage of doctrines, rites and organization. religion is the primary, but not the sole concern of the puritan. they are worldly people.they do not practice a cloistered devotion, a pious withdrawal from society and its sins, instead,they make a conscious effort to apply gods rules in everyday world.they want to bring religion out of church and into life on the farm and in the town.these are only one side of the puritan ideas and practice.this side of the puritan theory can not be simply judged on the right or wrong basis, these ideas, in addition to their kept practice, do help much in establishing a new life for the puritan settlers on the barren new england coast, life order soon takes shape when the priesthood and government combine in practicing the long anticipated puritan ideas in new jerusalem.hesters rebellion against puritanism could be seen from the beginning to the end of the novel. we can also have a glimpse of hesters state of mind and her attitude towards her sin at the moment. it is evident that hester doesnt feel that she has sinned against god. partly this is so because god has never been a very real presence in her life. even her lover, dimmesdale just remains spiritually in her mind. in brief, we may infer that it is because the experiences have no new sense of strangeness from him as the result of her adultery. god has given her a lovely child, whose place was on the same dishonored bosom, to connect her parent for ever with the race and decent morals, and to be finally a bless soul in heaven. hester is certain, too, that she has violated no law of her own nature. she is by nature affectionate even passionate. her relation with dimmesdale, consequently, has been the almost inescapable result of her own nature, not a violation of it.hester prynne, through the eyes of the puritans, is an extreme sinner. she has gone against the puritan ways by committing adultery. the puritans believe that hester is a lost soul that could only be saved by sincere and thorough repentance. for this irrevocably harsh sin, she must wear a symbol of shame for the rest of her life and has to live in shame and humiliation, deserted by other people.there are two reasons to explain why puritan persecuted hester. firstly, they adhere to the doctrine of the“inner light” which leads them to defy authority and trust themselves. secondly, they give unrestrained expression to their feelings and emotions. therefore, the puritans persecute her without mercy, first by imprisoned her, then, by forcing her to stand on the scaffold, wearing the scarlet“a” as a symbol of sin and facing all the humiliation from the community, later on, by casting her out of the community with the scarlet“a” permanently on her breast, and finally by shame her through all kinds of possible trifles added with a conspiracy of roger chillingworth makes hester a tragic victim of the puritan practice.2. hesters rebellion against traditionin the 17th century, american is being opened up. many europeans immigrate to this new land. hester is alone to boston, while chillingworth stays in england to handle some business. he plans to come in one or two years. however, when in boston alone, hester has her new life. she falls in love with the reverend arthur dimmesdale and they have a baby. in that tradition, hester should have kept adherent to her husband, even she has not a bit love for him. and furthermore, she should kill her natural love within her, instead of letting it released and spoil such a decent settlement at boston. but hester prynne shook of such puritanical bondage and love who she really loves bravely. she does not control her desires intentionally. she does everything that she thinks being worth. this greatly violates the tradition. her punishment is to wear a scarlet“a” for adultery and has to live in shame and humiliation, deserted by other people.facing these shame and humiliation, hester does not yield, but to continually struggle against the evil forces. she rebel the tradition in her own way. firstly, she decorates the scarlet“a”:“on the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth, surrounded with a elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the letter a. it was so artistically done. she was lady-like, too, after manner of the feminine gentility of those daysso that both men and women, who had familiarly acquainted with hester pyrnne, were now impressed with as if they behaved her for the first time,was that scarlet letter, so fantastically embroidered and illuminated upon her bosom.” 1for the ordinary people the scarlet a is meant as a punishment, for hester, it gives a detachment that lets her see the truth in the puritan tradition,secondly, hester defends the right to raise pearl. it has reached her ears that some of the leading inhabitants decide to deprive her of her child only because they cannot trust an immoral soul, such as pearl, to the guidance of one who has stumbled and fallen amid the pitfall of this world. this sort of situation is very common in that tradition. but, hester does not allow governor to do it. pearl is her very life, her only treasure purchased with all she has and the only thing to connect her parents forever. she said:” god gave me the child. he gave her in requital of all things else, which he had taken from me. she is my happiness！thou shall not take her！i will die first”2through her endeavor, she gets the right to raise pearl and tries her best to dress up pearl. for these town people, what she does is a sort of rebellion against tradition. it makes them against hester more.3. hesters rebellion against societyunder the laws of the puritan society, hester can not defend herself, but she has her own way of defying society. publicly exposed by the jail, she shows her strength against the social institution. the jail officer draws her forward, yet,“on the threshold of the prison-door, she repelled him, by an action marked with natural dignity and force of character, and stepped into the open air,as if by her own free will.”3she appears more lady-like than at any time before.“those who had before known her, and had expected to behold her dimmed and obscured by a disastrous cloud, halo of the misfortunate and ignominy in which she was enveloped.” her beauty, calmness and pride are her weapons against society. the scarlet a is considered as a bandage of infamy, and she has to wear it on her breast forever. but hester embroiders it in gold thread with a“gorgeous luxuriance of fancy” and it became an object of beauty.from the beginning, we see that hester prynne is a young and beautiful woman who has brought a child into the world with an unknown father. she is punished by puritan society by wearing the scarlet“a” on the bosom of her dress and standing on the scaffold for three hours. for hester, the scaffold is a painful task to bear. the townspeople gather around to gossip and stare at hester and her new born child, whom she suitably names pearl, name because of her extreme value to her mother and cherish her very much. in the disorder of faces in the crowd, young hester sees the face of a man she once is fiercely familiar with, whom we later learn is her true husband, roger chillingworth. her subjection to the crowd of puritan onlookers is excruciating to bear, and hester holds the child to her heart, a symbolic comparison between the child and the scarlet“a” implying that they are truly both intertwined. no matter what methods the governess use, hester never says who is her lover. because of it, she has to stay in jail for seven years and stands in scaffold three hours everyday in the period of the seven years. hester is alone with her little pearl in her hands on the scaffold although her lover, dimmesdale is in the crowd as well. but he does not tell the truth that he is that adulterer owing to his coward. hester prynne is alone confronting all the humiliation before the people of her community.b. hesters individual character1. the divergence between society and hesteralthough hester is brought up in a puritan society and instilled in the puritanical society, and she knows very well what kind of penalty would be forced upon an adultery sinner. however, hester has courage to behave his individualism. the key source of that society is the bible which is considered by all most everyone as the sole authority in matters of faith. for them, a womans virtue and spiritual security could be assured only through submission to male authority and reliance on male protection. they proclaim the subordination of woman to man as natural and necessary and the head of the woman is man, such construal of human relations reinforce the assumption that womans inferiority is not only natural but also necessary, not as a punishment for her sin, but as a necessity of her making. hester doesnt belong to this sort of group, her character witness that she cant follow the societys regulation. because of it, she did something that insulted by townspeople in the following years.2. the negation and criticism of religious and societyfor every action there is a reaction, the affects of sin in the scarlet“a”.according to websters collegiate dictionary, sin is defined as an action that is or is felt to be highly reprehensible. the average person would agree that it is only in human nature to sin. therefore the severity of such transgressions is diluted with that simple justification. however, the less frequently discussed and often times the more important issue is the effect of a man or womans sin. sin is considered something highly immoral, a despicable act that defies divine law. anyone who commits a sin is regarded as a serious offender of that which is pure. puritan belief tells us it should be hester prynne, because she is a weak-willed woman who breaks the vow given to her husband and conceived a child with someone else.religion today is too often merely the worship of guilt, an obsession with sin and an exercise in the rubrics of repentance. such is the case of all sin, including the adultery of hester prynne, the main character in hawthornes the scarlet letter. the novel takes place in the massachusetts bay colony from 1642-1649 during an era of strict religion under puritan watch. hester prynne, one of such people living in the colony, is punished greatly for her sin, although she is not punished in death. long ago stated,“all the sins of the body fly away if one chants the name of god” exemplifies the true status of hester prynne. although she has sinned, her motives and truly honorable lifestyle will establish her sense of goodness more then her sin will ever condemn her. hesters goodness is best established in her attitude toward her punishment, her atonement, and her growth through spiritual enlightenment. punishment among the puritan religion for adultery is commonly execution. in hesters case, her punishment is rather different due to many circumstances, one being, her husband may have died at sea. as her punishment for the adultery committed with dimmesdale, a god-fearing and reputable puritan, hester must not only wear the scarlet“a” for the remainder of her residence in boston, but also stand on a public scaffold in the center of the marketplace.apparently, hester negates and criticizes religion and society by her conducts of transforming the implied meaning of the scarlet“a”. hester believes that her intuition, her love for dimmesdale, defines her human nature, which is a higher law. with the morality in her mind, she refuses to admit her encounter with dimmesdale is a sin and she bravely follows the natural laws of her own instinctive nature to preserve her love against outside condemnation. her heroin deeds in the opening scene of scaffold invite hawthornes great admiration. he tells us“her beauty shone out, and made a hole of the misfortune and ignominy in which she was enveloped.”6 while her embroidered the scarlet“a” as the mystic token，had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and inclosing her in a sphere by herself.she used this sort of estrange sight to feel the society that priests and legislators. in her agony life, hester endures other peoples shame and insult bravely. regardless of it, she continues to live that shameful land. though the promise of legislators, who usually administrated her, she lived herself without other peoples help. she rebelled against too many reasons. the love between hester and dimmesdale was undoubtedly a violation of both region and social law, but it did not violate the natural law. it was true love between human beings. it was not sinful thing for them to love each other. on the contrary, the strict moral codes of an intolerant society, which was depicted as the puritan new england, would only lead to cruelty and tragedy, and was immoral and sinful. that was an oppression of humanity. therefore, in hester prynnes opinion, her love to dimmesdale was with dignity and grace.she dares hate the governor bellingham and other authorities. she dares to break away from her husband whom she did not love at all. hester as a woman full of passion, love and sorrow could be seen from the whole novel, she never neglected such human values as individuality, personal freedom and private life. she had her own secrets. she used individuality rights and regarded them as weapons to fire the society, she had a daughter and raised her by herself. hesters daughter pearl, the writer portrayed her with following features she was individual exist and escaped far from the society. she was a wild rose, a beam of sunlight a brook, and a lonely angel. the appearance of pearl as hesters daughter who was gifted so many virtues is a rebellion against religion obviously. at last, pearl visited europe and gained her happiness. it is hesters win to religion, naturals win to gods law, humanisms win to religion.2. pursing individual freedomhester has been sent to the american continent ahead of her husband. but there, while waiting her husbands arrival, she involves in a love affair with her spiritual guide arthur dimmesdale. as regard to hesters sexual transgression, the narrator of the novel attributes it to“human frailty” which is an implicit reference to her reckless or unbridled passion. but the genuine reason that triggers hesters sexual deviation lies in the injustice and unnaturalness of her marriage. the latter can be easily perceived by a comparison