红字象征主义论文文献

The Scarlet Letter, published in 1850, is an American novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne and is generally considered to be his magnum opus. Set in 17th-century Puritan Boston, it tells the story of Hester Prynne, who gives birth after committing adultery, refuses to name the father, and struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. Throughout the novel, Hawthorne explores questions of grace, legalism, sin and guilt.[edit] Plot summaryThe Scarlet Letter. Painting by T. H. Matteson. This 1860 oil-on-canvas was made under Hawthorne's personal Scarlet Letter. Painting by T. H. Matteson. This 1860 oil-on-canvas was made under Hawthorne's personal supervision.[1]The novel begins in 17th-century Boston, Massachusetts, then a Puritan settlement. A young woman, Hester Prynne, is led from the town prison with her infant daughter in her arms and the scarlet letter “A” on her bosom. The scarlet letter "A" represents the act of adultery that she has committed and it is to be a symbol of her sin – a badge of shame – for all to see. A man in the crowd tells an elderly onlooker that Hester is being punished for adultery. Hester's husband, who is much older than she is, sent her ahead to America while he settled some affairs in Europe. However, her husband never arrived in Boston. The consensus is that he has been lost at sea. While waiting for her husband, Hester has apparently had an affair, as she has given birth to a child. She will not reveal her lover’s identity, however, and the scarlet letter, along with her public shaming, is her punishment for her sin and her secrecy. On this day Hester is led to the town scaffold and harangued by the town fathers, but she again refuses to identify her child’s father.[1]The elderly onlooker is Hester’s missing husband, who is now practicing medicine and calling himself Roger Chillingworth. He settles in Boston, intent on revenge. He reveals his true identity to no one but Hester, whom he has sworn to secrecy. Several years pass. Hester supports herself by working as a seamstress, and Pearl (her daughter) grows into a willful, impish child, who is more of a symbol than an actual character, said to be the scarlet letter come to life as both Hester's love and her punishment. Shunned by the community, they live in a small cottage on the outskirts of Boston. Community officials attempt to take Pearl away from Hester, but, with the help of Arthur Dimmesdale, an eloquent minister, the mother and daughter manage to stay together. Dimmesdale, however, appears to be wasting away and suffers from mysterious heart trouble, seemingly caused by psychological distress. Chillingworth attaches himself to the ailing minister and eventually moves in with him so that he can provide his patient with round-the-clock care. Chillingworth also suspects that there may be a connection between the minister’s torments and Hester’s secret, and he begins to test Dimmesdale to see what he can learn. One afternoon, while the minister sleeps, Chillingworth discovers something undescribed to the reader, supposedly an "A" burned into Dimmesdale's chest, which convinces him that his suspicions are correct.[1]Dimmesdale’s psychological anguish deepens, and he invents new tortures for himself. In the meantime, Hester’s charitable deeds and quiet humility have earned her a reprieve from the scorn of the community. One night, when Pearl is about seven years old, she and her mother are returning home from a visit to the deathbed of John Winthrop when they encounter Dimmesdale atop the town scaffold, trying to punish himself for his sins. Hester and Pearl join him, and the three link hands. Dimmesdale refuses Pearl’s request that he acknowledge her publicly the next day, and a meteor marks a dull red “A” in the night sky. It is interpreted by the townsfolk to mean Angel, as a prominent figure in the community had died that night, but Dimmesdale sees it as meaning Adultery. Hester can see that the minister’s condition is worsening, and she resolves to intervene. She goes to Chillingworth and asks him to stop adding to Dimmesdale’s self-torment. Chillingworth refuses. She suggests that she may reveal his identity to Dimmesdale.[1]Hester arranges an encounter with Dimmesdale in the forest because she is aware that Chillingworth knows that she plans to reveal his identity to Dimmesdale, and she wishes to protect him. While walking through the forest, the sun will not shine on Hester, though Pearl can bask in it. They then wait for Dimmesdale, and he arrives. The former lovers decide to flee to Europe, where they can live with Pearl as a family. They will take a ship sailing from Boston in four days. Both feel a sense of release, and Hester removes her scarlet letter and lets down her hair. The sun immediately breaks through the clouds and trees to illuminate her release and joy. Pearl, playing nearby, does not recognize her mother without the letter. She is unnerved and expels a shriek until her mother points out the letter on the ground. Hester beckons Pearl to come to her, but Pearl will not go to her mother until Hester buttons the letter back onto her dress. Pearl then goes to her mother. Dimmesdale gives Pearl a kiss on the forehead, which Pearl immediately tries to wash off in the brook, because he again refuses to make known publicly their relationship. However, he too clearly feels a release from the pretense of his former life, and the laws and sins he has lived day before the ship is to sail, the townspeople gather for a holiday and Dimmesdale preaches his most eloquent sermon ever. Meanwhile, Hester has learned that Chillingworth knows of their plan and has booked passage on the same ship. Dimmesdale, leaving the church after his sermon, sees Hester and Pearl standing before the town scaffold. He impulsively mounts the scaffold with his lover and his daughter, and confesses publicly, exposing the mark supposedly seared into the flesh of his chest. He falls dead just after Pearl kisses him.[1]Frustrated in his revenge, Chillingworth dies a year later. Hester and Pearl leave Boston, and no one knows what has happened to them. Many years later, Hester returns alone, still wearing the scarlet letter, to live in her old cottage and resume her charitable work. She receives occasional letters from Pearl, who was rumored to have married an European aristocrat and established a family of her own. Pearl also inherits all of Chillingworth's money even though he knows she is not his daughter. There is a sense of liberation in her and the townspeople, especially the women, who had finally begun to forgive Hester of her tragic indiscretion. When Hester dies, she is buried in "a new grave near an old and sunken one, in that burial ground beside which King's Chapel has since been built. It was near that old and sunken grave, yet with a space between, as if the dust of the two sleepers had no right to mingle. Yet one tombstone served for both." The tombstone was decorated with a letter "A", and it was used for Hester and Dimmesdale.[edit] Major themesNathaniel HawthorneNathaniel Hawthorne[edit] SinSin and knowledge are linked in the Judeo-Christian tradition. The Bible begins with the story of Adam and Eve, who were expelled from the Garden of Eden for eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. As a result of their knowledge, Adam and Eve are made aware of their disobedience, that which separates them from the divine and from other creatures. Once expelled from the Garden of Eden, they are forced to toil and to procreate – two “labors” that seem to define the human condition. The experience of Hester and Dimmesdale recalls the story of Adam and Eve because, in both cases, sin results in expulsion and suffering. But it also results in knowledge – specifically, in knowledge of what it means to be human. For Hester, the scarlet letter functions as “her passport into regions where other women dared not tread,” leading her to “speculate” about her society and herself more “boldly” than anyone else in New England.[2]As for Dimmesdale, the “cheating minister” of his sin gives him “sympathies so intimate with the sinful brotherhood of mankind, so that his heart vibrate[s] in unison with theirs.” His eloquent and powerful sermons derive from this sense of empathy.[2] The narrative of the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale is quite in keeping with the oldest and most fully authorized principles in Christian thought. His "Fall" is a descent from apparent grace to his own damnation; he appears to begin in purity. He ends in corruption. The subtlety is that the minister is his own deceiver, convincing himself at every stage of his spiritual pilgrimage that he is saved.[3]The rosebush, its beauty a striking contrast to all that surrounds it – as later the beautifully embroidered scarlet A will be – is held out in part as an invitation to find “some sweet moral blossom” in the ensuing, tragic tale and in part as an image that “the deep heart of nature” (perhaps God) may look more kindly on the errant Hester and her child (the roses among the weeds) than do her Puritan neighbors. Throughout the work, the nature images contrast with the stark darkness of the Puritans and their systems.[4]Chillingworth’s misshapen body reflects (or symbolizes) the evil in his soul, which builds as the novel progresses, similar to the way Dimmesdale's illness reveals his inner turmoil. The outward man reflects the condition of the heart.[4]Although Pearl is a complex character, her primary function within the novel is as a symbol. Pearl herself is the embodiment of the scarlet letter, and Hester rightly clothes her in a beautiful dress of scarlet, embroidered with gold thread, just like the scarlet letter upon Hester's bosom. [2] Parallels can be drawn between Pearl and the character Beatrice in Rappaccini's Daughter. Both are studies in the same direction, though from different standpoints. Beatrice is nourished upon poisonous plants, until she herself becomes poisonous. Pearl, in the mysterious prenatal world, imbibes the poison of her parents' guilt.[edit] Past and presentThe clashing of past and present is explored in various ways. For example, the character of the old General, whose heroic qualities include a distinguished name, perseverance, integrity, compassion, and moral inner strength, is said to be “the soul and spirit of New England hardihood.” Now put out to pasture, he sometimes presides over the Custom House run by corrupt public servants, who skip work to sleep, allow or overlook smuggling, and are supervised by an inspector with “no power of thought, nor depth of feeling, no troublesome sensibilities,” who is honest enough but without a spiritual compass.[4]Hawthorne himself had ambivalent feelings about the role of his ancestors in his life. In his autobiographical sketch, Hawthorne described his ancestors as “dim and dusky,” “grave, bearded, sable-cloaked, and steel crowned,” “bitter persecutors” whose “better deeds” would be diminished by their bad ones. There can be little doubt of Hawthorne’s disdain for the stern morality and rigidity of the Puritans, and he imagined his predecessors’ disdainful view of him: unsuccessful in their eyes, worthless and disgraceful. “A writer of story books!” But even as he disagrees with his ancestor’s viewpoint, he also feels an instinctual connection to them and, more importantly, a “sense of place” in Salem. Their blood remains in his veins, but their intolerance and lack of humanity becomes the subject of his novel.[4][edit] Public responseThe Scarlet Letter was published in the spring of 1850 by Ticknor & Fields, beginning Hawthorne's most lucrative period.[5] When he delivered the final pages to James Thomas Fields in February 1850, Hawthorne said that "some portions of the book are powerfully written" but doubted it would be popular.[6] In fact, the book was an instant best-seller[7] though, over fourteen years, it brought its author only $1,500.[5] Its initial publication brought wide protest from natives of Salem, who did not approve of how Hawthorne had depicted them in his introduction "The Custom-House". A 2,500-copy second edition of The Scarlet Letter included a preface by Hawthorne dated March 30, 1850, that he had decided to reprint his introduction "without the change of a word... The only remarkable features of the sketch are its frank and genuine good-humor... As to enmity, or ill-feeling of any kind, personal or political, he utterly disclaims such motives".[8]The book's immediate and lasting success are due to the way it addresses spiritual and moral issues from a uniquely American standpoint. In 1850, adultery was an extremely risqué subject, but because Hawthorne had the support of the New England literary establishment, it passed easily into the realm of appropriate reading. It has been said that this work represents the height of Hawthorne's literary genius; dense with terse descriptions. It remains relevant for its philosophical and psychological depth, and continues to be read as a classic tale on a universal theme.[9]The Scarlet Letter was also one of the first mass-produced books in America. Into the mid-nineteenth century, bookbinders of home-grown literature typically hand-made their books and sold them in small quantities. The first mechanized printing of The Scarlet Letter, 2,500 volumes, sold out within ten days,[5] and was widely read and discussed to an extent not much experienced in the young country up until that time. Copies of the first edition are often sought by collectors as rare books, and may fetch up to around $6,000 its publication, critic Evert Augustus Duyckinck, a friend of Hawthorne, said he preferred the author's Washington Irving-like tales. Another friend, critic Edwin Percy Whipple, objected to the novel's "morbid intensity" with dense psychological details, writing that the book "is therefore apt to become, like Hawthorne, too painfully anatomical in his exhibition of them".[10] 20th century writer D. H. Lawrence said that there could be no more perfect work of the American imagination than The Scarlet Letter.[11][edit] Allusions* Anne Hutchinson, mentioned in Chapter 1, The Prison Door, was a religious dissenter (1591-1643). In the 1630s she was excommunicated by the Puritans and exiled from Boston and moved to Rhode Island.[4]* Martin Luther (1483-1546) was a leader of the Protestant Reformation in Germany.* Sir Thomas Overbury and Dr. Forman were the subjects of an adultery scandal in 1615 in England. Dr. Forman was charged with trying to poison his adulterous wife and her lover. Overbury was a friend of the lover and was perhaps poisoned.* John Winthrop (1588-1649), first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.* Richard Dawkins' Out Campaign is represented with the Scarlet Letter A emblem.[edit] Film, TV and theatrical adaptationsMain article: Film Adaptations of the Scarlet Letter1995 film poster1995 film poster* 1917: A black-and-white silent film directed by Carl Harbaugh with Mary G. Martin as Hester Prynne* 1926: A silent movie directed by Victor Sjostrom and starring Lillian Gish and Lars Hanson.* 1934: film directed by Robert G. Vignola and starring Colleen Moore* 1973: Der Scharlachrote Buchstabe a film directed by Wim Wenders in German* 1979: PBS version starring Meg Foster and John Heard* 1994: A rock musical, "The Scarlet Letter" written by Mark Governor is produced in Los Angeles.* 1995: The Scarlet Letter, a film directed by Roland Joffé and starring Demi Moore as Hester and Gary Oldman as Arthur Dimmesdale. This version is "freely adapted" from Hawthorne according to the opening credits and takes liberties with the original story.* 1996: The film Primal Fear references The Scarlet Letter.* 1996: The Marilyn Manson promotional video for the song 'Man That You Fear' obliquely references the novel.* The Red Letter Plays (In The Blood produced in 1999, and F--ing A, produced in 2000) by playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, rewrote the story placing it in contemporary New York and Houston.* 2001: A musical stage adaptation which premiered at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, by Stacey Mancine, Daniel Koloski, and Simon Gray.* 2004: The Scarlet Letter is a Korean noir-thriller featuring an adulteress' monologue, that mentions a plan to raise her unborn child as Pearl in America, in a desperate plea to exit her obsessive affair.* 2008: "shAme"[1], a rock opera by Mark Governor based on "The Scarlet Letter" premieres in Los Angeles. It is a major reworking of his 1994 stage musical that was also produced in Boston in 2000 and as a radio production in Berlin in 2005. The 2000 version was endorsed and presented by the Nathaniel Hawthorne Society.[edit] References to the novelLists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (September 2008)[edit] Literature* The 1993 novel The Holder of the World by Bharati Mukherjee re-wrote the story, placing it in present-day Boston, Colonial America, and seventeenth-century India during the spread of the British East India Company.* Deborah Noyes wrote a companion to this novel entitled Angel and Apostle with Pearl as the main character.* Postmodern writer Kathy Acker borrows from The Scarlet Letter in her novel Blood and Guts in High School. Janie, the main character, identifies with Hester Prynne and intertwines their stories in a vulgar manner.* In the novel Speak, Hairwoman, the English teacher, refers to The Scarlet Letter in her lesson. The novel's protagonist, Melinda Sordino, is a freshman in high school who is ostracized from her fellow schoolmates during the school year, much as Hester Prynne was ostracized by the Puritans in Boston.* Maryse Condé's novel I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem, although set at the time of the Salem witch trials, also features the character Hester Prynne.* The title of Jhumpa Lahiri's 2008 novel Unaccustomed Earth comes from a passage from the introduction to The Scarlet Letter: "Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same worn-out soil. My children have had other birthplaces, and, so far as their fortunes may be within my control, shall strike their roots into unaccustomed earth."[edit] CultureRichard Dawkins's Out Campaign for atheism uses a red scarlet "A" on webpages and clothing as an emblem of atheist identification. [12]Tennessee has drivers convicted of DUI wear vests advertising this fact while on roadside litter pick-up duty. This is a badge of shame similar to the original scarlet letter.

很完整的一份联系wo!

19世纪美利坚合众国浪漫主义作家霍桑的长篇小说。创作于1851年。小说描写女主人公海丝特·白兰跟丈夫从英国移居当时尚属英殖民地的美利坚合众国波士顿。中途丈夫被印第安人俘虏。海丝特只身到美后，迫于生活，被一青年牧师诱怀孕。此事，被当地虚伪的清教徒社会视为大逆不道。当局把海丝特抓起来投入监狱，游街示众，还要终生佩带象征耻辱的红色的A字（Adultery：通奸女犯）和站在示众台上受审。州长亲自主持了对海丝特的审讯，她所属教区的牧师丁梅斯代尔——一个被公众视为最高道德典范的诱海丝特的奸夫，也假惺惺地劝说她招出奸夫的姓名。但海丝特宁愿一人受辱，誓死也不招供。在远离社会，远离人群，受尽屈辱的处境中，海丝特孤苦顽强地生活着，全仗刺绣为生。她生活中的惟一支柱是抚养掌上明珠般的女儿珠儿。海丝特这种忍辱负重、代人受过和不屈不挠的精神，使丁梅斯代尔大为感动，也大受刺激，不久他便心力交瘁地病倒了。而获释归来，一直在暗中侦察底细的海丝特的丈夫罗杰·奇林渥斯医生，在给丁梅斯代尔治病中，已基本了解到了真情，并欲置丁梅斯代尔于死地。为了逃脱，海丝特跟丁梅斯代尔议定在新市长就职那天，带上孩于一同乘船到“看不到白人足迹”的地方去。但此事也被奇林渥斯识破，逃脱不成。于是，丁梅斯代尔在新市长就职那天，携海丝特和珠儿走上示众台，当丛宣布了自己诱海丝特的事实，并死在海丝特怀抱中。海丝特也从此得到了解放，带着珠儿远走他方。若干年后，珠儿长大成人，安了家立了业，而海丝特却一人再回到波士顿，仍带着那个红色的A字，用自己的“崇高的道德和助人精神”，把耻辱的红字变成了道德与光荣的象征，直到老死。小说以两百多年前的殖民地时代的美洲为题材，但揭露的却是19世纪资本主义发展时代美利坚合众国社会典法的残酷、宗教的欺和道德的虚伪。主人公海丝特被写成了崇高道德的化身。她不但感化了表里不一的丁梅斯代尔，同时也在感化着充满罪恶的社会。至于她的丈夫奇林渥斯，小说则把他写成了一个一心只想窥秘复仇的影子式的人物。他在小说中只起情节铺垫的作用。小说惯用象征手法，人物、情节和语言都颇具主观想象色彩，在描写中又常把人的心理活动和直觉放在首位。因此，它不仅是美利坚合众国浪漫主义小说的代表作，同时也被称作是美利坚合众国心理分析小说的开创篇。小说在线阅读：英文阅读：

纳撒尼尔·霍桑(NathanieI Hawthorne，1804一1864)出生于新英格兰一名门望族，他家世代都是虔诚的加尔文教信徒。他的两代先祖曾是马萨诸塞殖民地政教合一的权力机构中的要人，参与过一六九二年萨菜姆驱巫案及其后的迫害教友派的活动。霍桑一家后来以航海为业，从事东印度地区的贸易，到他父亲这一代，家境已经大不如前。小纳撒尼尔四岁时，做船长的父亲使病死在外，全靠才貌双全的母亲把他和两个姐妹抚养成。家庭和社会环境中浓重的加尔文教气氛，深深地影响了霍桑，使他自幼性格阴郁，耽于思考；而祖先在追害异端中的那种狂热，测使他产生了负罪感，以致人大学后在自己的姓氏中加了一个“W”．表示有别于祖先。从他十二岁以来的日记判断，他在观察及写作上，都是早熟的。 霍桑十四岁时，到祖父的庄园土住了一年。那附近有个色巴果湖，霍桑经常到那里打猎、钓鱼、读书，充分领略自然风光。据他晚年回忆，他的一生以这段时间最为自由愉快，而他的孤癖个性和诗人气质。也是在这里形成的。 霍桑在波多因大学读书时，深为同学所推重。他在这里结识了后来成为著名诗人的朗费罗，当了总统的皮尔斯和投身海军的布里奇。这几位学友都对他后来的生活和创作产生过影响。 一八二五年霍桑大学毕业后，回到萨菜姆故居一住就是十二年，把时间全都用在了思考．读书和写作上。由于不满意自己的作品，他最初的几篇短篇小说都是匿名发表的，他甚至还焚毁了一些原稿。经过长时间的磨炼，霍桑终于在一八三七年出版了第一个短篇小说集《重讲一遍的故事》，从此以善于写短篇小说而著称。 一八四二年婚后，霍桑便迁到康考德居住。这里不但是爱默生的家乡，而且是梭罗“返回自然”的基地，堪称是那一代超验主义文人苔革的大本营。可想而知，霍桑后半生多在此地居留，与那里的哲学和文学氛围大有关系。 正是翟桑的身世和经历，形成了他的复杂的世界规和独特的创作思想及手法。 《红字》是霍桑的第一部长篇小说，一八五O年该书问世后，霍桑一举成名，成为当时公认的最重要的作家。 《红字》故事的背景，是一六五O年前后的波士顿，当时的居民是一六二O至一六三O年间来此定居的第一代移民。他们都是在英格兰故土受詹姆斯一世迫害而抱着创建人间乐土的理想来新大陆的请教(即加尔文教)徒，史称“朝圣的教父”。清教徒在英国最初是反抗罗马教皇专制、反对社会腐败风气的，他们注重理智，排斥感情，推崇理想，禁绝欲望；后来却发展到极端，不但迫害异端。甚至连妇女在街上微笑都要处以监禁，儿童嬉戏也要加以鞭打。 霍桑熟谙新英格兰的历史，他的大部分作品都是写的这类故事。读者在《红字》中所看到的情节和人物，在他的一些短篇中都可见端倪。少《教长的面纱》中牧师和少女的隐情，《思狄柯特与红十字》中胸佩红字示众的美妇，《年轻小伙子布朗》中人们倔偷到黑暗的森林里与魔鬼密约，《拉伯西尼医生的女儿》(故事假托在意大利)中那位学识渊博、医术精湛但灭绝人性的医生，等等。作者大概为了说明《红字》故事有根有据，居然在正文前面难脱流俗地写了一个楔子。这个楔子在英文原文各版本中都有，约三万七千余汉字，名为《海关》，主要是叙述作者在一八四六至一八四九年间任海关督察时的一些较事，文笔幽默流畅。因与本书关系不大，放各中译本均略去不译；但其中有一部分涉及本书的源起，或许读者会感兴趣，现摘译如下： 一个雨天，我阔来无密，却有幸发现了一些有趣的东两。我在圈阅堆在角落里的废弃文献时，我的注意力披一个神秘的包裹所吸引。那包裹是一块红色细布所做，已经磨损褪色，上面依稀尚有众线刺绣的浪迹，侗己朽得不见原样，看不出光泽了。显而易见，那是极其美妙的引线活，那种针港手艺现在已经失传。仔细湃认，便可看出这块猩红的破布片呈字母“A”测。精确量米，每个笔划险好是三又四分之……英寸长。毫无疑问，原先是用作衣裙上的装饰品的；至于当年怎样佩戴，或长表示什么等级、效件和薄严，我却无从猜测。但它却奇怪地引起我的兴趣，使我目不转睛地盯视不已。诚然，其中必有深意，颇值琢磨。 这一番声明原是作者故弄玄虚，实在不足为凭。不过，一六五八年普利茅斯殖民当局制定的法律中确实有这样一款：凡犯有奸淫罪者，“当于袖上及背部佩戴布制AD二大写字母，本政府治下若发现其未佩此二字母者，立即予以逮捕并当众施以鞭打。”可见，当年受此羞辱者会大有人在，霍桑并非杜撰。而书中的贝灵汉总各和威尔逊牧师也是实有其人，作者本想用来增添作品的真实气氛，却引起一些人去考证丁梅斯代尔牧师是否影射约翰·科顿①，这恐怕违背了作者的初哀。 象《红字》这样题材的故事，如果由一个平庸之才去写，很容易流于儿女私情的浅薄传奇，充其量也只能写成主人公抗争逆境之类的通俗作品。但霍桑毕竟是个勤于思考、长于挖掘的大手笔。他一方面深受清教主义的影响，摆脱不掉“原罪”“赎罪”及“命定论”之类的宗教迷信，但又从家族的负罪感出发，反过来对清教的专制统治痛心疚首；他一方面接受了爱默生的超验主义哲学观，相信客观的物质世界只是某种隐蔽的神秘力量的象征，但又受个人的宗教意识的左右，去探寻固有的、独象的“恶”。因此，他在作品中加意描绘荒谬可怖的现象，竭力挖掘阴暗怪诞的心理。然而，正因为这种晦涩的神秘主义倾向，反面使他的作品产生了一种曲径通幽的意境和余音绕梁的效果，引导我们透过种种象征去探究人物深藏的心理和主题背后的哲理。 为了表达深篷的主题，霍桑在位自称为“心理罗曼司”的小说中，极尽讽示隐喻和象征比拟之能事。 《红字》的故事一开篇，映入读者眼帘的，昔先是“新殖民地的开拓者们”在万事草创之时忘不了与墓地同时修建的监狱，这株“文明社会的黑花“从来不曾经历过自己的青春韶华”，因为它“与罪恶二字息息相关”，它那狰狞阴森的外貌，连同门前草地上“过于繁茂地簇生着的不堪入目的杂革”，都增加了晦暗凄楚的色调，然而在这一片灰黑之中，却傲然挺立着一丛玫魂，“盛开着宝石船的花朵”，象征着人类的道德……接下来，便出观了女主人公海丝特·白兰，怀抱初生的珠儿，“她焕发的美丽，竟把笼尽着她的不幸和耻辱凝成一轮光环”，令人联想起“圣母的形象”。这样一段胡胡如生的文字，不但为我们展现了人物活动的舞台背景，而且启发读者去思考作品的主题。 这种用略带神秘色彩的自然景象烘托环境、渣染气氛和映衬人物心理的手法俯拾皆是，最突出的便是丁梅斯代尔牧师和海丝特及珠儿在夜晚和密林中的两次会见：由红字连系在一起的几个主要人物的同时出场，如同戏剧中迭起的高潮，把全书紧织在一个严密的结构之中。 作者还把这种手法用于刻画人物液他的笔下次要人物的是非善恶和他们之间的思恩怨怨写得十分含蓄，而几个主要人物则通过个别的心理挖掘、成双的组合的冲突和同时出场亮相的交汇，交待出各人与红字相关的象征。 全书写到的人物不过十多个，其中有姓名的不超过十个。值得注意的是贝灵汉总督、威尔逊牧师、西宾斯老夫人和那位最年轻而唯一有同情心的姑娘这四个次要人物，他们分别是珠儿、丁梅斯代尔牧师、罗杰·齐灵握斯和海丝特这四个主要人物的反衬或影子。而四名主要人物又形成两对，使他们的个性在相得益彰之中予以酣畅淋漓的表现。 海丝特·白兰是有形的红字。她出身没落的世家，父母贫穷而正直。她的不幸的婚姻，加之两年中丈夫音讯皆无．谣传他已葬身海底，这个孤苦夫依的少妇与才貌相当的丁梅斯代尔的爱情便显得合情合理。事情败露后，她被迫终身佩戴红字，为了爱人的名声，她独自承担了全部罪责与耻辱。出于对他的眷恋之情，她不但在他生前不肯远离他所在的教区，就是在他死后，仍然放弃了与女儿共享天伦之乐的优越生活，重返埋有他尸骨的故地，重新戴上红字，直到死后葬在他身边，以便永远守护、偎依着他。这个勇敢的女性还精心刺绣那红字，着意打扮她的小珠儿，不仅出面捍卫自己教养她的权利，而且尊重孩子狂野的天性，努力培养她成人。在作者的笔下，海丝特远不只是个争取个性解放的女人，她还汲取了“比红字烙印所代表的罪恶还要致命”的精神，把矛头指向了“与古代准则密切相关的古代偏见的完整体系——这是那些王室贵胄真正的藏身之地”，称得起是一位向愚昧的传统宣战的斗士了。这样的高度，是很多文学作品中的妇女形象所难以企及的。她的这种精神境界尽管没有为她的那些请教徒乡亲和愚不可及的长官们所理解(否则，不分要和来何等横祸)，但无论如何，由于她的合辛茹苦、助人为乐等种两美德，使她胸前的红字不再是“通奸”(入dult“y)的耻辱徽记，面成了“能干”(Able)，甚至“值得尊敬”AdmiraLIe)的标志了。 丁梅斯代尔是无形的红字。与海丝特相比，他显得怯懦，但这是他受宗教束缚弥重的结果。他并非不想公开仟悔自己的“罪孽”，但他的这种愿望过多地同“赎罪”‘内省”等宗教意识纠缠在一起，因此行动上也只能处处受其局绊。他既要受内心的谴责，又要防外界的窥测；他明明有自己的爱，却偏偏要把这种感情视同邪魔。他在痛苦中挣扎了七年，最终虽然以袒露胸膛上的“罪恶”烙印，完成了道德的净化与灵魂的飞升，但他始终没再气承认自己爱的正当，更谈不到与旧的精神体系彻底决裂，与海丝特相比，似乎更加映衬出后者的高大。 齐灵握斯是红字的制造音。他那丑陋的外貌和畸形的躯体，正是他丑陋和畸形的灵魂的写照。他选择了让丁梅斯代尔话着受煎熬的复仇手段，实际上成了阻止他赎罪的恶魔。他和海丝特的结合虽然出于他追求家庭温暖和个人幸福的一已之私，但毕竟是一种爱，原也无可厚非；但当这种爱转变成恨，把复仇作为生活目标，不惜抛弃“博爱”的基督精神，以啮噬他人的灵魂为乐之后，反倒由被害者堕落成“最坏的罪人”，不但在失去复仇这一生活目标时结束了自己的生命，而且死后也不会得到新生。 小珠儿则是活的红字，“是另一种形式的红字，是被赋予了生命的红字！”这个私生的小精灵和她母亲胸前的红字交相辉映，既是“罪恶”的产物又是爱情的结晶。海丝特把红字用金色丝线装饰得十分华美，小珠儿也给打扮得鲜丽异常。她的美勃齐灵漫斯的丑形成强烈对比：一方面体观了作者的浪漫主义观点一老医生的博学多识使他成为深受文咖亏染的社会人面小女孩肆元忌惮的狂野则仍保持着自然人的纯真；另方面又表明了作者的宗教意识——齐灵涯斯既然是撤旦，小珠儿便是“天使”(Angel)，“A”字在她身上，从而具备了更积极的合义。恰拾是在这个含义上，寄托了作者美好的理想，也体现了他对宗教的幻想，霍桑是一位世界观相当复杂的作家，他选择爱情悲剧作为《红字》的主题，使自己深深陷入难解的矛盾之中。爱情本是人类的天性，但按照基督教义。亚当和夏娃偷吃了伊甸园的智慧之果，懂得了男欢女爱，不再靠上帝创造而由自已繁衍人类，这本身正是“原罪”，至于私情，更触犯了基督教的第七戒。霍桑虽深受教会影响，但自从欧洲文艺复兴以来，爱情早已成了文艺作品永恒的主题，时时受到歌颂，他即使再保守，也不会不认为这是天经地义的了。于是，书中便处处可见作者难言的苦衷：他虽然谴责不合理的婚姻，甚至把男女主人公的爱情说成是“神圣的贡献”，但不敢肯定不合“法”的感情，更不肯使有情人终成眷属。他只能让齐磷斯在死前“良心发现”，把遗产全部留给珠儿。 实际上，霍桑在《红字》中要表达的，是社会现状和人类命运，并借以进一步探讨他所关心的“善”与“恶”的哲理。 那座构成《红字》故事中心场景的示众刑台，时面被描述成“象是教堂的附属建筑”，似是要把社会的丑恶及不人道归咎于宗教，但继而又被写作“如同法国大革命时期恐怖党人的断头台”，表明了他对社会变革的不解与疑惧。从这一例证中我们不难看出，作家以敏锐的目光洞悉了社会的种种弊端，但并不知道应该何去何从。他从人道主义出发，把社会的不合理现状和人类的悲惨命运，归结为“善”与“恶”之争，但他的善恶观又深受宗教教条的浸染，成了缠夹不清的空泛议论，说什么“爱总要比恨来得容易，这正是人类本性之所在。……恨甚至会通过悄悄渐进的过程变成爱。”还提出“恨和爱，归根结底是不是同一的东西……”；而书中那种浓重的阴郁色彩，也给人压抑多于振奋。 然而，我们在阅读和欣赏文学名著时，既不应苛求作家，也不该围于他的局限。的确，霍桑本人有保守思想和神秘主义倾向．他的《红字》也并非革命的教科书。但如果我们读了这部作品后，能够看到旧制度的黑暗，并唤起变革社会的理想，愿意为更美好的人类命运去奋争，不也是积极的吗？诚如作者在与全书开篇遥相呼应的结尾宁所写：“这传说实在阴惨，只有一点比阴影还要幽暗的永恒的光斑稍稍给人一点宽慰：‘一片墨黑的土地．一个血红的A字。”霍桑作品的一大长处是引人深思、发人联想；让我们就从这一“永恒的光斑”和“血红的A字”出发，去浮想联翩吧，“A”字又何尝不可以代表“前进”(Advance)呢！ 作为十九世纪后期美国浪漫主义作家的杰出代表，霍桑的文学作品及其艺术成就对当时与后世都有重大影响。 在当年英国作家威廉。朗格伦的《农夫彼尔斯》(1362)和约斡．班扬的《天路历程》(1678—84)这类宗教小说中，就曾把七大罪恶或人的品德变成具体人物登场。这种把抽象概念人格化并用来直接给人物命名的写法显然比脸谱化更为原始和粗糙。霍桑所采用的象征比拟笔法则是在此基础上的创新，当时即为麦尔维尔所师法，经过爱伦·坡的评论，转而为法国的波德菜尔所效仿，并开创了现代派文学的象征主义流派。 至于霍桑那种造染气氛、深挖心理的手法，更为后世所推崇，亨利·詹姆斯、威廉·福克纳，直至犹太作家索尔·贝委和艾萨克·辛格，黑人女作家托妮·莫瑞森等，无不予以运用。单就这一点而论，霍桑对世界文坛的贡献也是巨大的。他的代表作《红字》无愧于不朽巨著。