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Hawthorne carried a sophisticated attitude to Puritanism. He declared that it could purify people’s hearts to get salvation by benevolence and repentance. He made friends with transcendentalists Emerson and Thoreau in 1841, and their thoughts also influenced him and his writing. Emerson and Thoreau are the most significant representatives of transcendentalism, and they have proposed that inpidualism works first and the spirit of self-service is of great importance. So transcendentalism was in the opposite direction of Puritanism.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is the outstanding novel of great significance in the 19 century America. In fact, through The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne means to display some of puritanical doctrines can persecute human beings, oppress and even distort human nature. Due to Hawthorne’s unique family background and the long exposure to Puritanism, The Scarlet Letter is believed to consider as the best to reflect Puritanism in American literature. This novel embodies the understanding of Puritanism and the concept of ethical morality by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
1.2 The Writing Background of The Scarlet Letter
In the 17th century, the May-flower ship first landed on America which was called the new world. British puritans began to migrate to the colonies in the North America.
In that time, America was being opened up. Many Europeans emigrated to this new land. Most of those Englishmen went to America in order to escape the religious persecution and wanted to realize their religious dream that couldn’t be realized in England. As far as they founded their own paradise in America, they also set up the autocratic government which combined religion and politics into one. In the middle age of the 19th century, America took place a tremendous change in industry, economy, population and politic. The advanced technique and machines couldn’t improve the society ethical value and social quality, but the contradiction between society and people, and religious conflict were continuously aggravated, so people got trapped into abyss deeply. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne was published in 19th century, people had the impact of Calvinism, Christianism, and the control of puritanical religious principles destroyed men’s spirit and depressed people’s natural need. Meanwhile, human being had profound influence on Puritanism, they devastated people’s minds, suppressed human nature and rights, which made people’s life miserable. Once human being disobeyed the puritanical doctrines, puritans would punish them harshly.
1.3 The Main Ideas of The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter describes a tragic story. The protagonist Hester was a beautiful and kind lady who emigrated to North America with other puritans. Her husband named Chillingworth was an aged learned man, who had long time dwelt in Amsterdam for his work. He sent his wife before him because he had looked after some necessary affairs. Hester went to this small town lonely and live difficulty. When Hester was acquainted with Dimmesdale, she had been taken good care to settle down firmly. Afterwards, she fell in love with Dimmesdale and committed adultery with him. They had a daughter named Pearl. Dimmesdale was a priest, considering his identity and social status, he had no courage to acknowledge the extramarital affair with Hester. Hester must be sentenced to commit adultery and need put the scarlet letter “A” on the breast forever. She had to live in shame and humiliation, deserted by other people. What’s the bitterest was that Dimmesdale must perform his duty to persuade Hester to say who the adulterer was. However, Chillingworth, Hester’s husband went to Boston after two years later and saw his wife had stood in the jail door. He also tortured the priest psychologically and mentally as the revenge.源/自:优尔:`论~文'网www.youerw.com
2. Literature Review
Puritan is the name given in the sixteenth century to the more extreme Protestants within the Church of England who thought the English Reformation had not gone far enough in reforming the doctrines and structure of the church; they wanted to purify their national church by eliminating every shred of Catholic influence. In the seventeenth century, many puritans emigrated to the New World, where they sought to found a holy commonwealth in New England. The puritans established their own religious and moral principles known as American Puritanism, which became one of the enduring influences on American thought and American literature. The puritans hoped build “a city upon a hill” ——an ideal community. Since that time, Americans have viewed their county as a great experiment, a worthy model for other nations. The American values owe very much to the puritanical belief. (Lan Hongmei, 2010:3)