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1、The Scarlet Letter is rich with symbols whichcan stand for an idea,belief,action,or materialentity.It is a characteristic of Hawthorne.Heused symbols to reveal the psychology of thecharacters.So in the essay,I will mainly talkabout the symbols in this book.The most important symbol in the book is th
2、e“thescarlet letter A”.When I first saw the main characterHester Prynne at the beginning of the book,the imagecome to my mind was the woman appeared in the bible,the angle“took me away in the Spirit into a waste land:and I saw a woman seated on a bright red beast,full ofevil names,having seven heads
3、 and ten horns.And thewoman was clothed in purple and bright red,withornaments of gold and stones of great price and jewels;and in her hand were a gold cup full of evil things and heruncleandesires”(revelution17:3,17:4).Herethewoman“full of evils”was dressed in red,and seated onred.Red,or scarlet co
4、lor was a kind of symbol of sin.The“scarlet”in this novel,however,can reflectmuch,not only sin.The color“scarlet”is just like the love between第 1 页HesterandArthurDimmesdale,pure,sincereandenthusiastic.This kind of love is the foundation of thefamily and the society.It should be cherished if thesocie
5、ty is well established.But,the novel was written inthemid-nineteenthcenturyandtookthemid-seventeenth century for the events it describes.Peopleatthattimesoughttoestablishanidealcommunity in America that could act as a model ofinfluence for what they saw as a corrupt civil andreligious order.This sen
6、se of mission was the center oftheir religious and social identity.Directed toward therealization of such an ideal,the Puritans required a strictmoral regulation;anyone in the community who sinnedthreatened not only their soul,but the very possibility ofcivil and religious perfection in America and
7、in England.Notcoincidentally,theyearsHawthornechosetorepresent in The Scarlet Letter were the same as those ofthe English Civil War fought between King Charles I andthePuritanParliament;thelatterwasnaturallysupported by the New England colonists.Under the ruleofthePuritanism,thehumannaturehadbeencon
8、strained;people can not develop in a healthy way.第 2 页The scarlet feeling that should be full of passion andhappiness was suppressed.Meanwhile,the“scarlet”can also stand for the punishment of stake.Hester andDimmesdale were just like pagans;their guilty souls wereburned by the fire,and the fire had
9、turned into thescarlet letter“A”.Thatmeanttheirsouls werepurified in the long lasted punishment.As the novel described that Hester was a youngwoman who was tall with a figure of perfect elegance on alarge scale.She had dark and abundant hair,so glossythat it threw off the sunshine with a gleam,and a
10、 facewhich,besides being beautiful from regularity of featureand richness of complexion,had the impressivenessbelonging to a marked brow and deep black eyes.Shewas ladylike,too,after the manner of the femininegentility of those days;characterized by a certain stateand dignity,rather than by the deli
11、cate,evanescent,andindescribable grace,which is now recognized as itsindication.There is no doubt that she was a charmingwoman,especially in the common crowd.But the scenewas quite irony.This charming woman was the sinner.The scarlet letter A was on the breast of her gown,in fine第 3 页red cloth,surro
12、unded with elaborate embroidery andfantastic flourishes of gold thread.She was a sinner whocommitted adultery more than an attractive woman.Thescarlet letter A people gave her was to show she was anadulterous woman.It was a shame;As A is the first letterof the alphabet which means the start.As to do
13、ctrine,thestart is fallen.The origin of the world is fallen.Adam andEves leaving Eden was a punishment for their act.Lifebeginning was a kind of fallen.The story begins with thescene that Hester was on the scaffold to accept thepunishment implied that the beginning was the fallen.The name of Arthur
14、Dimmesdale started with the letter Ajust liked Adam.He should be together with Hester,buthe did not.For Hester,she hadnt been faced with this,so whats her first impulse is to clasp the infant closelyto her bosom to hide this shame.But in a moment,sherealized its unwise to hide a shame by another.The
15、nshe smiled,in a haughty way.At this moment,the scarletletter A was no longer a kind of symbol of“adulterous”,a shame,but the fire inside that gave her the supporttogether withthe baby on her arm.She pulled throughthis situation and in her later life the scarlet A also第 4 页accomplished her and turne
16、d into different meanings.Itjust like a ferule that regularize her behavior,cultivateher virtue,constrained her human nature and alsofirmed her faith to pursuit her happiness.In her latter life,she lived a pure life.Her needle work was supremely goodthat the scarlet letter A seemed to become a prais
17、e thatrepresented art.Not only had her needle work winned herpraise,but she herself was such a kind person whoalways helped others who were in trouble that winedothers respect.The scarlet letter A became a symbol of“able”or“angle”.It could be also regarded as thecross of nuns,stranded for“Acts of th
18、e apostles”.Tillthis moment,the scarlet letter A was no longer a symbolof shame.Whats interesting,in Geoffrey ChaucersThe Canterbury Tales,there also a nun who had an A.The scarlet letter itself is the principal symbols inthe novel,and there are many others.In the first chapterthe wild rosebush symb
19、olizes dissent in its reference tothe historical figure Anne Hutchinson,who led a group ofreligiousdissentersincolonialMassachusetts.MeanwhileitalsosymbolizesHesterandevenaforeshadowing of the scarlet letter that she wears.第 5 页Whats more,individuals in the novel can also beunderstoodassymbols.Forin
20、stance,ArthurDimmesdale,with all of his profound pain and suffering,is symbolic of the high value of truth and the irony of itsunattainability.In others eyes,there would“neverhad man spoken in so wise,so high,and so holy a spirit,as he that spoke this day;nor had inspiration everbreathed through mor
21、tal lips more evidently than it didthrough his.”Such a high praised priest,however,wasnot as perfect as they thought.Dimmesdale is presentedas a figure of frailty and weakness in contrast to Hestersstrengthbothmoralandphysical,pride,anddetermination.He consistently refuses to confess his sin(until t
22、he end),even though he repeatedly states that itwere better,less spiritually painful.Even when hedecided to escape,he cried himself Am I mad?Or am Igiven over utterly to the fiend?Did I make a contract withhim in the forest,and sign it with my blood?“He wascowardice and contradictory that he doomed to a tragedy.In this novel,thereexist lots of symbols that someare obvious,some are secret.When we read more deeply,we can find that literature is like a travel,you can find第 6 页much that beyond your imagination.第 7 页