an analysis of the scarlet letter(我要的是英语论文 不是要翻译

an analysis of the scarlet letter(我要的是英语论文 不是要翻译
an analysis of the scarlet letter(
我要的是英语论文 不是要翻译

an analysis of the scarlet letter(我要的是英语论文 不是要翻译
对Hawthorne的小说（或者同名电影）《红字》的分析

红色信件的分析

<红字》分析

这是我自己写的，希望对你有所帮助
On Three Types of Conflicts
——Analysis of Arthur’s Torture
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the most important works in American li...

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这是我自己写的，希望对你有所帮助
On Three Types of Conflicts
——Analysis of Arthur’s Torture
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the most important works in American literature history, it tells a story on an adultery affair which took place in 17th-century Boston, Massachusetts, then a Puritan settlement. Young beautiful woman Hester Prynne moved to New England alone, while her husband was “supposedly to be somewhere far away or perhaps even dead” (Johnson.1995:l) Then, her adultery affair with puritan minister Arthur Dimmesdale was found because of pregnancy. She was punished to wear scarlet letter A on her breast. Being not brought out by Hester, the minister Arthur was still respected by people, whereas in fact, he was painfully tortured by his inner conflict. This paper will analyze Arthur Dimmesdale’s torture from his three types of inner conflicts: the conflict between puritan belief and physical nature, the conflict between exterior reputation and interior easement, and the conflict between self-trust and else-trust.
Firstly, Arthur had a conflict between his puritan belief and the physical nature in himself. In the 17th century, Puritanism was very popular in the New England settlement and it thought the relationship between men and women should be banned strictly, and adultery was considered to be a very bad sin. As a minister in a puritan community, Arthur was considered to be the model of Puritanism, who would obey the puritan rules paradigmatically. However, when the beautiful young woman Hester moved to this community, lonely and in need of help very much, Arthur, as the minister in the community, was supposed to “give a hand to this pitiful woman”.(Hawthorne 1994:84) Gradually, man’s spontaneous affection to woman made the minister fall in love with Hester, but this physical nature was against his puritan belief. He could not betray his religion, because “[as] the head of the [puritan] social system…he was trammeled by its regulations, its principles, and even its prejudices.”(Hawthorne 1994:143) However, he could not give up the love with Hester, the beautiful woman he loved so much. His inner conflict made him feel so suffering. When he immersed himself in Hester’s love, he would have a guilty feeling that he betrayed his religion. When he devoted himself in his religion, however, the physical desire for Hester afflicted him severely. He wanted to escape from this conflict so much, “Were I an atheist—a man devoid of conscience—…I might have found peace, long ere now.” (Hawthorne 1994:134), but finally he couldn’t.
Secondly, Arthur had a conflict between aspiration for exterior reputation and aspiration for interior easement. When Hester was found adulterate, she did not bring out the adulterer in order to keep the minister’s reputation in community. In Arthur’s mind, he wished he could share the pain with Hester because the sin of adultery belonged to him as well, but at the same time he dared not confess his sin in front of the public, which would result in the destruction of his high reputation in people’s heart. His puritan belief and minister status made him feel embarrassed of his sin. If it was known by people that he was the adulterer, he would be laughed at and his reputation would be lost immediately. He wanted to seek the interior easement by confessing his sin, but he did not want to lose his fame, so finally he compromised to confess his sin on the scaffold at night, when and where “[no] eye could see him, save that ever-wakeful one which had seen him in his closest wielding the bloody scourge.” (Hawthorne 1994:141) In this way, he was released a little. However, the pain of this conflict did not stop torturing him, so he had to seek psychological comfort by “[striking] his forehead with his hand.” (Hawthorne 1994:217) Not until his death did Arthur really escape from the torture of this conflict by revealing “the appearance of the immense letter—the letter A.” (Hawthorne 1994:149)
Thirdly, Arthur had a conflict between self-trust and else-trust. Throughout this novel, Arthur was tortured by the conflict whether he should believe in his own feeling or the puritan doctrine. The Puritanism taught him that man should restrain from the lust and libido, that the adultery is a serious sin which must be punished, and that he should obey these rules strictly. However, his feeling told him that he loved Hester so much, that the adultery between Hester and he was not that guilty as Puritanism claimed, and that he was tormented by the puritan rules. Which is true? Arthur tried to find out the answer, but he was never sure about either of these two answers. Sometimes he believed firmly he should obey the Puritanism, as he said “we were born to love God more than anyone.” (Hawthorne 1994:167) Sometimes, he communed with his own feeling :“whatever of good capacity there originally was in me, all of God’s gifts that were the choicest, have become ministers of spiritual torment.” (Hawthorne 1994:137) If he chose to believe in his own feeling, that would be a betray to God; if he chose to believe in Puritanism, that would be a betray to Hester. Both God and Hester were who he loved and he would like to betray neither of them. As a result, Arthur could not find the exit of this conflict because he did not know which door was open to him. He had to suffer the ceaseless tortures in this conflict.
The title of this novel is The Scarlet Letter. Most of critics believe that it stands for the scarlet letter A on Hester’s breast, but in my opinion, it more stands for the hidden letter A on Arthur Dimmesdale’s body and also the painful torture in his deep heart. The three types of inner conflicts may have a greater power in torturing the minister than those puritan traumatic punishments. At the very end, Arthur confessed his identity of the adulterer in front of the public and then died in Hester’s arms. It is a “happy” ending for him, because at that time, all his inner conflicts and the torture he suffered had disappeared
Works Citation
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter [M]. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching
and Research Press, 1994.
Johnson, Claudia Durst. Understanding the Scarlet Letter [M]. Westport. Corn:
Greenwood Press, 1995.
Zhu Geng. A Reinterpretation of the Scarlet Letter[D].Central China Teachers University, 2005.
Cao Qi. Who is the Sinner?[D]. Central China Teachers University, 2002.

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