关于《红字》中意象的象征意义解读-

1、【标题】关于红字屮意象的象征意义解读【作者】向学萍【关键词】刑台；建筑物；植物；象征主义【指导老师】赵洪尹翟赫【专业】英语【正文】i introductiona a brief introduction to the scarlet letternathaniel hawthorne (1804-1864) was born in salem. his ancestors were from a prestigious famil) five generations before him, john hawthorne was one of the three judges in the sa

2、lem witchcraft trials of 1692 later, his family became poorer and poorer, and in 180& his father died of yellow fever. when nathaniel hawthorne was a boy, he lived in his hometown with his mother, and meanwhi1e he was influenced by the atmosphere, and formed religious thought. he studied the his

3、tory of the puritans. after his graduation from bowdon college in maine, he started his writing career and later became a novelist, short-story writer and essayist. his short stories included twice told tales (1837), mosses from an 01d manse (1846). his novels included the scarlet letter (1850), the

4、 house of the seven gables (1851), the marble faun (i860).the scarlet letter is a famous american novel whose author, nathaniel hawthorne, is considered the leading american native fictionist of 19th century. the scarlet letter told us a story that in june 1642, in the puritan town of bosto n, a cro

5、wd gathered to wi tn ess pun i shment. a young woma. n, hester prynne, had been found guilty of adultery and wore a scarlet letter "a” on her bosom as a sign of sin. she refused to name the father of her litter child pear1. as she looked out over the crowd, hester noticed an aging, misshapen ma

6、n, she recognized him as her husband, who was presumed to have died at sea. then he chose a new name roger chillingworth and decided to take revenge on the child" s father. he knows that the much-admired brilliant young clergyman dimmesdalc was the father of the litter child by chance. so roger

7、 became intimately acquainted with him. whi 1 e tormented by guilty conscienee, dimmesdale could not find courage to tell the truth publicly- later, hester decided to ask him to leave the town with them. before the day they left, dimmesdale gave his most inspired sermons, and then he cl imbed on the

8、 scaffold and confessod his sin, then died, roger chillingworth also died the same year. many years later, pearl lived a happy 1 ife in europe, and hester came back to boston, when she died, buried nearthe grave of dimmesdale and they shared a simple tombstone.b. the value of this thesisthe scarlet

9、letter is hawthorne，s most important symbolic novel. wu weiren held a view:“a symbol is anything that is used to represent somethingother than itself- in literature it is most often a concrete object that is used to represent something broader and more abstract 一often a moral, religious, or philosop

10、hical concept or value. ” 1 symbols range from the most obvious and mechanical substitution of one thing for another, to massive, complex, and perplexing creations. in literature，the definite on of the literary device, symbolism, can simply be defined as being the art of practice of using symbols es

11、pecially by investing things with a symbolic meaning or by expressing the invisible or intangible by means of visible or sensuous representatives. symbol ism in literature is al so the deepness and hidden meaning in a piece of work. tt is often used to represent a moral or religious belief or value-

12、 symbolism is a traditional artistic form. it began as a literary movement that development from romanticism in france in the second half of the 19th ccntury in the tragedy of ancient greece or the symbolic opera in the middle ages in europe, the using of symbolism in the development of l iterature

13、can be found everywhere. symbol ism is also a major feature of romanticism. hawthorne has made one of his most distinctivg and significant contributions to the growth of american fiction through his use of symbols as a famous writer of romanticism, hawthornc is skillful at the usi ng of it in his wo

14、rk. his work the scarlet let ter has some originality when he uses the symbolism based on carrying on his traditional art and shows its own distinguishing features. this thesis aims at the exploration of the usage of the symbolism in the nove 1. it mainly discusses the deep symbolic significance of

15、the scaffold, buildings and vegetation. from the several aspects, we can clearly see that in this novel, each image towards several effects . the scarlet letter stems from the fact that the story is highly symbolic. in a word, although the method of symbolism is developed rather than invontod by haw

16、thorne, his unique and systematic use of it makes him the master of this writing technique.ii. the scaffold as the symbolthe scaffold plays an important role throughout the book. hawthorne uses the scaffold to divide this story into three periods. whenever the scaffold is mentioned, it is one of the

17、 three climaxes of the story.the first scaffold seene prosents the humi1iation on the scaffold hester is alone with her 1 ittle pearl in her hands on the scaffold although her lover, dimmesdale is in the crowd as well. but he does not tel 1 the truth that he is that adulterer owing to his cowardness

18、. hester prynne is alone confronting all the humiliation before the people of her community:there can be no outrage, methinks against our commonnature - whatever be the delinquencies of the individual - no outrage more flagrant that to forbid the culprit to hide his face for shame. ” 2 no matter how

19、 shameful you fell and willing to lower you head in order to hide the shameful expression, which is impossible the scaffold signifios the rigor of puritanical law herethe second scene demonstrates for his hesitation on the scaffold in chapter 12,the minister" s vigil:and thus, while standing on

20、 the scaffold, in the vain show of expiation, mt. dimmesdale was overcome with a great horror of mind, as if the uni verse were gazing at a scarlet token on his n aked breast, right over his heart. on that spot, in very truth, there was, and there had long been, the gnawing and poisonous tooth of bo

21、dily pain without any effort of his wi11, or power to restrain himself, he shrieked aloud. 3dimmesdal e has great di ff i cul ty in standi ng on the platform and confess ing his sin. there is int ense inner conf lie t in dimmesdale" s mind, a struggle between his cowardness and his consciousnes

22、s. he does it under in the darkness of night for no one can see him, as if he can hide his sin from god the scaffold is a place for his penitence and ack no wledgement of sin. the third scaffold scene presents the atonement on the scaffold. all conflicts in the story are resolved, including the conf

23、lict between hester and chillingworth, the conflict botweon little pearl and her father dimmesdale, and dimmesdale" s own inner conflict dimmesdale takes hester and pearl by the hands and bravely sta nds on the scaffold to ope nly conf ess hiss in in the 1 ight of day before the crowd. the conf

24、ession fin al 1 y gives him a sense of peace. the scaffold is used to show unity when this is done it signifies that dimmesdale become to triumph over his sin and accept his daughter, so there the scaffold represents a new place for soul free from the three scenes of the scaffold, although it is the

25、 same scaffold, the time and the figures are different . the scaffol d has di f fere nt symbols in different scenes- when hester and pearl are humiliated on the scaffold, it is impossible to hide the shameful expression the scaffold signifies the rigor of puritanical law at the same time, dimmesdale

26、 can not stand on the scaffold and confess his sin. one night he is alone confess his sin and search inner peace on the scaffold. the scaffold represents the penitence and acknowledgement of sin. at the end of this story, dimmesdale accepts hester and his daughter in front of people, so there the sc

27、affold represents a new place for soul free.itt. buiidings as the symbola. pri son as a symbolthe opening chapter introduces the image prison: “the founders of a new colony what utopia of human virtue and happiness they might originally project, have invariably recognized it among their earliest pra

28、ctical necessities to al lot a por tion of the virgin soil as a cemetery, and an other portion as the site of a prison. ” 4 the prison serves as the symbol of "the authority of the regime, ” 5 which will not tolerate deviance."the rust on the ponderous iron-work of i ts oaken door looked m

29、ore antique than anything else in the new world like all that pertains to crime, it seemed never to have known a youthful era. ” 6 the description of the prison indicates that it is cold, rusted, yet strong with an iron-clamped oaken door this suggests the rigorous enforce mcnt of regime and comm on

30、 people" s inability to break free of themfrom ancient times to the present, prison is a place where takes criminal into custody. hester fells in love with dimmesdale, the young and handsome clergyman after her husband disappeared inexplicably. because she conceives a baby, her secret love is e

31、xposed and she is put into prison the prison serves as the symbol of the crime and punishmontb. cottage as a symbolafter hester is released from the prison, she finds a cottage in the woods near the outskirts of the town. her choice of the habitation is crucial to the symbolism within the novel. fir

32、stly, hester gives full play to her specialty in the cottage she does needlework to earn money and supply food for her thriving infant and herself the cottage likes a refuge from the rigor of the puritanism.secondly, hester makes her home on the outskirts of the town directly on the edge of the wood

33、s in the town, hester is a crimina 1. she is condemned to wear the scarlet letter "a” in front of her bosom and humi 1 iated by people. we can say that hester and pearl live in a place of immoral universe. tn the forest, hester throws away the 1 etter, dimmesdale feel s joy and the forest treat

34、s pearl as a friend. they are like a family in the forest which as a symbol of freedom and happiness here we can say that hester and pearl live in a place of moral universe the cottage sits between the woods and the towru hester is putting herself in a place of 1 imbo between the moral and the i mmo

35、ral uni verses. because it shows t hat hester does not 1 ive un der the strict puritanical moral code, but rather tries to live in both worlds simultancously.as building, the prison and cottage also have rich symbolic meanings prison itself as a symbol of the crime and punishment. but when the priso

36、n with an “iron-clamped oaken door" ' , it serves as the symbol of the authority of the regime. after hester released from prison, hester and pearl live in the cottage which as a refuge from the rigor of puritanism but here, the cottage sits between the woods and the town. heater makes hers

37、elf in a place of 1imbo between the moral and the immoral universes.tv. vegetation as the symbola. forest as a symbolin the scarlet letter, each character embodies a different aspect of the symbolic meaning of the forest. for some the forest may be a place of sinister thoughts and wrong doing, but f

38、or others it is a place of happiness and freedom.the first encounter with the forest we have symbolizes just some of the evil that lingers with in the darkncss of the forest. as hester and pearl are leaving governor bell ingham" s estate they are confronted by mistress hibbins who explains that

39、 the witches are meeting in the forest, and then she invites hester to become more deeply involved in her evil deeds- uwilt thou go with us tonight. 7 asked mistress hibbins. yet hester refused to sign her name in the black man，s book on that night. she explains that the only reason she does not sig

40、n is because pearl is still in her life. here we can see that the forest is a symbol of the world of darkness and evi 1.but in the scarlet letter the forest symbolizes more than that. at this time the forest itself is an access to love and freedom for both heater and dimmesdale. it is a place where

41、the letter on thoir bodies can no ionger have an effect on them tn the forest dimmesdale feels joy:do i feel joy again! cried he, wondering at himself. methought the germ of it was dead in me! 0 hester, thou art my better angel! 1 seem to have flung myself-sick, sin-stained, and sorrow-blackenod-dow

42、n upon these forest leaves, and to have risen up a made anew, and with new powers to glorify him that hath been merciful! this is already the better life! why did we not find it sooner?8as a symbol of freedom and happiness, hester throws away the letter and undoes her hai r. appropriately, a flood o

43、f sunshine ilium in ales the forest, dispelling the darkness:her sex , her youth, and the whole richness of the beauty, came back from what men call the irrevocable past, and clustered themselves, with her maiden hope and happiness before unknown, within the magic circle of this hour. and, as if the

44、 gloom of the earth and sky had been but the effluenee of these two mortal hearts, it vanished with their sorrow. 9for her this is really freedomin pearl' s eyes the forest has a totally different concept. to pearl the forest is like a best friend the animals do not runaway at her every move, th

45、e partridge clucks to her, the pigeon utters a sound as greeting , the squirrel chatters at her and flings down a nut upon her head, the fox looks inquisitively at her , even the wolf just comes up and smells pearl" s robe. to hester, dimmesdale and pearl, they are al 1 freedom and happ in css

46、in lhe forest.forest treats them as if they are one of its own.b. rosebush as a symbolhawthorne directly challenges this notion by mentioning the name ann hutchinson into the opening page. hutchinson is a woman who disagreed with the puritanical teachings and as a result is sentenced to death by the

47、 puritan church. hawthorne claims that it is possible the beautiful rosebush growing directly at the prison door sprang from her footsteps:this rosebush by a strange chancc, has been kept alive in history; but whether it had merely survived out of the stern old wilderness, so long after the fal 1 of

48、 the gigantic pines and oaks that originally over-shadowed it-or whether, as there is fair authority for believing, it had sprung up under the footsteps of the sainted ann hutchinson, as she cntered the prison-door-we shall not take upon us to determine. 10this implies that the puritanical authority

49、 may be too rigid to the point of obliterating things of beauty. yi lixin once wrote in a book that the rosebush was a symbol of passion. 11 part of hester prynne' s sin arise from her passion, thus linking her crime to the image of the rosebush hawthorne al so indirectly compares heater with an

50、n hutchinson via the rosebush and again makes the same paral1 el in chapter13, another view of hester- hawthorne cleverly links the rosebush to the wilderness surrounding boston, conimenting that the rosebush may be a remnant of the former forest, which covered the area this is important, because it

51、 is only in the forest wilderness where the puritans， law fails to have any force. thus the image of the rosebush serves to foreshadow that some of the passionate wilderness in the form of hester prynne may have accidentally made its way into boston. the rosebush in full bloom indicates that hester

52、is at the peak of her passion. this paral lels the fact: “hester has just born a child as a result of her passion the child is thus comparable to the blossoms of the rosebush. ”12as vegetation, the forest and rosebush in this novel also have their different symbolic moaning the forest is not only as

53、 the world of darkness and evil, but also as a symbol of happiness and freedom and linking hester，s crime to the image of the rosebush, it is a symbol of passion. v. conclusionsymbolism is a traditional artistic form. it also is a major feature of romanticism as a famous writer of romanticism, hawthorne is skillful at using of symbo