论霍桑的红字中清教主义与人文主义的冲突

1、Presentation- RobinThe Conflict Between Puritanism and Humanism in The Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne论霍桑的红字中清教主义与人文主义的冲突Outline of this presentation 1Contents of the Paper2Introduction3Literature Review4Methodology5Conclusion6Works citedContent of the Paper12 As a cultural heritage, Puritanism exerts a

2、 lasting influence over the thought and literature of America. Nathaniel Hawthorne was an important Romantic novelist of America in 19th century. Being born in a religious family, Hawthorne as well as his works are filled with ideas of Puritanism. On the other hand, we can also find some evidence of

3、 Humanism in his works. Actually, many characters in The Scarlet Letter are conveyer of the contradiction of Puritanism and Humanism.IntroductionPuritanism : Puritanism refers to the movement arising within the Church of England in the latter part of the 16th century that sought to purify, or reform

4、, that church and establish a middle course between Roman Catholicism and the ideas of the Protestant reformers. Humanism : Humanism is the spirit of learning that developed at the end of the middle ages with the revival of classical letters and a renewed confidence in the ability of human beings to

5、 determine for themselves truth and falsehood. Two termsPurpose: According to the analysis of the main characters and comparison between Puritanism and Humanism, as well as other aspects, personality and the society for instance, this paper is to give evidence that The Scarlet Letter is not just one

6、-sided result of Puritanism or Humanism but a rather complex conflict or contradiction between these two beliefs.3Literature Review Because of the considerable influence of The Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne, many researches have been done in all aspects, such as Puritanism embodied in this work, or ra

7、ther conveyed by some specific characters. Some of those researches also noticed Humanism bounded in this influential work through the character Pearl. Here are some examples: Analysis of the Sin in The Scarlet Letter，Wu Haiping , Shaanxi The present paper tries to analyze the sins in Nathaniel Hawt

8、horne work The Scarlet Letter the sins of Hester, the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth. Through a close study of the characters in The Scarlet Letter, we draw closer to understand the theme of sin. This work focused on sins of the main characters.Actually, the author just focused

9、on the side-effects of Puritanism. 红字的清教主义传统透视, 孙筱珍, 山东师大外国语学院 描写了清教主义盛行的新英格兰所发生的犯罪、情欲、悔过和社会镇压,表现了清教主义传统在人们思想上和生活上的烙印、对人的精神上的摧残、对人性和人权的压抑。 This work emphasized the repression and wreckage that Puritanism brought about. The Tragic Love of The Scarlet Letter, Hou Weizheng, Jiangsu It exposed gloomy an

10、d despicable repulsion of human nature and at the same time extolled glorious soul by portraying the dark reality under Puritanism in the 17th century. It exposed bourgeoisie Puritans hypocrisy, selfishness and fraudulence. This thesis focus on the influence that Puritanism exerted on love between H

11、ester and Dimmesdale. Symbols of Pearl in The Scarlet letter, Li Aiqing , Jiaozuo Institute of Education This article evaluates The Scarlet Letter with the help of analyzing the symbolic meanings of Pearl. From the interpretation of the symbols of Pearl, it has been proved that Pearl becomes Hawthor

12、nes best vehicle to convey his attitudes toward Humanism. Different from the former 3 papers I listed, this thesis paid attention to another side of The Scarlet letter, Humanism. Many previous researched results on this work are concentrated on different aspects of the influence of the two beliefs,

13、such as religion, sin, adultery, the spirit of revolt, etc. Besides, some works have analyzed relationships between those characters and one of the two beliefs to some extent. But none of them paid attention to that actually The Scarlet Letter is not just one-sided result of Puritanism or Humanism,

14、but a complex conflict, or rather compound, between this two beliefs that expressed by the main characters in it.My view4Methodology In my paper, 3 main methods have been applied, i.e., Comparative Method, Qualitative Method, Analytical Method. For example, The analysis of Puritanism and Humanism an

15、d comparison between them is based on the comparative method. Because Puritanism brought people repression, spiritual wreckage, while Humanism gave hope and the spirit of revolt against darkness. These two beliefs sometimes mingled together in the mind of the main characters. Besides, I applied qual

16、itative method whenit comes to our understanding of the beliefs of Puritanism and Humanism, which is also the basis of my paper. Because sometimes the definition of these two beliefs are distinguished by different situations, especially when it comes to religion and love. Finally, there is also a ve

17、ry important method, analytical method, that I used in my paper. Especially when analyzing the conflict between Hesters personality and the society, previous husband and her real love, as well as those two beliefs.5Conclusion Hawthornes attitude toward Puritanism is rather complex as a result of com

18、plicated situation of Puritanismitself. On one hand, the cruel rejection and prosecution toward Puritans and the oppression and restraint of Puritan doctrine filled Hawthornes mind with suspicion and bewilderment. He resists this tradition and condemns the craze and hypocrisy of those creeds. However, on the other hand, he is also confined to this tradition, and understands the society wit