从霍桑的《红字》看清教徒主义

Puritanism in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

霍桑所著的《红字》是美国浪漫主义时期比较典型的作品,讲述了一个受不合理婚姻束缚的少妇海丝特背叛她的婚姻和信仰所要承受的痛苦的故事。17世纪的波士顿宗教社会不接受任何罪恶,所以海丝特终身必须佩带红色的A字。家族世世代代虔诚地信奉清教,营造了一种浓厚的清教气氛,这为后来作品《红字》的诞生提供大量素材。小说通过相关人物和背景的描述向人们展示了清教徒的生活以及他们所推崇的思想,同时也反映了作者对清教主义的观点。

Nathaniel Hawthorne＇s The Scarlet Letter was the typical works of the Romantic Period in America. It shew the pain and suffering a woman went through when she broke her marriage,and disobeyed her religion. The religious society in 17 th century Boston would not accept sin of any kind so they branded Hester Prynne with the letter A for the rest of her life Nathaniel Hawthorne＇s family was of Puritan belief since generations. This provided much of the material for The Scarlet Letter. The novel will give us a picture of Puritans＇ life and their ideology through analysis of some related characters and settings.