解读霍桑《胎记》中的宗教观与科学观

Interpretation of Hawthorne's Religious and Scientific Views in The Birthmark

霍桑是19世纪美国文学发展时期的一位重要代表作家,《胎记》是其短篇佳作之一。小说描述了一位卓越的科学家因无法容忍妻子脸上的一块胎记带来的不完美,试图用实验消除胎记却最终断送了妻子性命的故事。霍桑的作品常因含义丰富隐晦而引发评论界的争论,胎记的多重象征意义也给历代读者留下了巨大的诠释空间。小说中胎记的意象统领贯穿全文,胎记是霍桑矛盾的宗教观与辩证的科学观具象化的载体。看似简单的情节围绕胎记层层深入:不可消除的手形胎记象征着霍桑对清教原罪观的认同;女主人公因胎记而死的悲剧隐含了霍桑对清教局限性的批判;同时,科学家消除胎记的实验传达了霍桑超越时代的、发人深省的科学观。

A key figure in the development of American literature in the 19th century, Hawthorne writes many highly valued short stories,including The Birthmark. The novel describes a story of an eminent scientist who feels intolerable with the imperfection brought by a birthmark on his wife＇s cheek and thus resolves to conduct experiments to remove it, which results in his wife＇s death. There＇s no general agreement to Hawthorne＇s works due to his ambiguity,and the multiple symbolic meanings of the birthmark has endowed the story with different interpretations. The image of the birthmark runs through the whole story, which visualizes Hawthorne＇s contradictory religious view and dialectical scientific view. The seemingly simple plot centers upon the birthmark, the little hand-like birthmark symbolizes Hawthorne＇s view of original sin; the heroine＇s tragic death implies Hawthorne＇s criticism of Puritanism; and the scientific experiment conveys Hawthorne＇s transcending and stimulating scientific view.