从无知到心理失常:《小伙子古德曼·布朗》解读

From Innocence to Mental Disorder: Interpretation of "Young Goodman Brown"

纳撒尼尔.霍桑的名篇《小伙子古德曼.布朗》不仅暗示了普遍的人性“恶”,而且展示了主人公从无知到心理失常、从信仰到怀疑的心路历程。文章应用弗洛伊德精神分析理论,从人格动力的角度深入剖析主人公布朗自我理想崩溃、人格异常及因此经历的焦虑和痛苦。布朗的痛苦具有普遍意义,反映了几代清教徒的内心折磨与痛苦,以及人们对清教教义从信仰到怀疑的态度。同时,布朗的心理变化也折射出作家思想上的矛盾与困惑。

“Young Goodman Brown”, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, not only reveals the universal “evil” in human nature, but also delineates the mental conversion of the protagonist from being innocent to suffering from mental disorder, and from believing to suspecting. Based on Freudian psychoanalytical theories, the paper examines Brown＇ s collapse of ego-ideal, his personality disorder, and his anxiety and agony from the perspective of personality drive. The paper points out that Brown＇ s agony, to a general degree, embodies the spiritual torments generations of Puritans had been suffering from, and people＇s change from believing in to suspecting Puritanism. Brown＇ s psychological conversion also reflects the contradictions and the confusion in Hawthorne＇ s mind.