浅谈霍桑的原罪

李娜

摘 要：霍桑（1804-1864）是他同時代最具影响力的作家之一。他认为罪恶与美好同时存在于每个人的内心，并在人的内心深处相互斗争。通过阅读霍桑的作品，我们发现原罪的思想占据了很大部分内容。在他看来，“原罪”是很多社会问题的元凶。如果我们要解决整个社会的问题，我们必须要行动起来。

关键词：原罪 象征 人性

中图分类号：T109.31 文献标识码：A 文章编号：1674-3520（2013）-12-0259-02

Ⅰ. Introduction

Nathaniel Hawthorne （1804-1864） is an extremely paradoxical figure. He was the most democratic of all great nineteenth century writers but he was also， in many of his views and his political affiliation， the most conservative one. In an age of ardent reformers he was certain that society could only be changed gradually. In a period of unbridled individualism he thought that the greatest threat to mans happiness lay in his growing apart from his fellow men. In a time of increasing national power and prosperity， when both the small but important group of intellectuals and the great mass of practical men were altogether optimistic， he felt that somehow things were going wrong， that it was less and less possible for man to live throughout the whole range of his faculties and sensibilities. While he had more experience and understanding of practical life than any other contemporary writers， he had an almost desperate need for seclusion and privacy. Finally， almost all his stories were in greater or lesser part allegorical， and he called his novels “romances” to distinguish them from those which dealt in realistic descriptions of current affairs.

But before we try to explain or even examine his attitudes and his achievement we shall look at his rather surprisingly varied life.

1.1 Background of Hawthornes Family

In fact， the ideas of “Original Sin” in Hawthornes works are closely related to his family background and religions atmosphere. Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in a puritan family in Salem. Hawthornes father was a well known Salem captain， who died of yellow fever in Dutch Guyana， and abandoned his young wife， two daughters and 4-year old Hawthorne. Fathers death and mothers isolated life influence little Hawthorne greatly. He never commented directly on the strange lonely life instituted by his mothers withdrawal， but in a short story written many years later he describes “A forlorn widow whose grief outlasted even its vitality， and grew to be merely a torpid habit， and was saddest then.”

However， what influenced the ideas of Hawthorne works directly is his family history.Salem was dominated by Genevan authority strongly. Calvinism in order to eliminate heresy used this reason to fight against Whig for grabbing religions authority. This law case embroiled widely， more than 200 people arrested， 150 people were putted into prison， and more than 10 people were sentenced to be hanged.

1.2 Literature Background of His Time

Just like Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper， Hawthorne gathered his material from his nations short history， connected past and present with his imagination. So his creations wandered between reality and illusion. In his works， reality and image could encounter with each other and influenced each other. Although advocating “original sin”. Hawthorne brought readers back to the colonial age of New England to discuss the past of American Puritanism. That is the way of Hawthorne to explore the whole society and the whole life.

Ⅱ. “Original sin” Expression in Hawthornes Works

From Hawthornes earliest to his latest work， a recurrent theme in Hawthornes stories is that of a man who cannot feel close to others， who suffers “ice in the blood”-a detachment that makes him an observer of human life rather than a responsive participant.

2.1. All the Evils in the World Are from the Evils in Peoples Heart.

He used Genevan doxy—man was evil in nature and original sin etc. to explain the unequal phenomena of society—evils were omnipresent； evils were immanent in peoples heart. Sins consisted rather in the deep of ones heart than in the outside environment. This theme in his work is， in a sense， the counterbalance to his insistence that one must recognize and courageously combat the evil possibilities in every human heart. He strongly condemned the Puritan belief that men were more evil than good， which most men were truly damned， and that one should be suspicious of everyone， dwelling on the likelihood of evil everywhere.

For example， in his short story “Young Goodman Brown”， Hawthorne portrayed an innocent and kind young man Brown is leaving at sunset on midsummer nights eve， because he is allured to date with devils in the forests， leaving his bride alone. When he is walking in the dark forests， the man who guiding him looks like himself， later looks like his father. We can find this implies a kind of evil “communication” in blood—as a generation communication.

2.2 The Sin Bequeath to the Next Generation.

Hawthorne burdened the sinful will of mankind and could not forget the sinful behaviors of his ancestors. “The House of the Seven Cables” represents it very well. The main plot of the story happens in Hawthornes age， but Hawthornes ideas of this story rely on the past， especially on the past mistakes. The story tells us that in the colonial age， Phoebe Pyncheon captain， in order to grab Morls land， maligns Morl dealing with wizard activities. The captain sends Morl to the scaffold depending on his authority. On the scaffold， Morl points to the captain， execrates him and predicts that God will let you drink blood. After Morls death， the captain builds a magnificent house with the seven cables on this land. But when the house finishes， the captain dies in his sanctum. This building with Morls predicted is inherited to the captains posterities and gives his posterities a series of misfortune. The theme of this story， just as what Hawthorne writes in the preface， that one generations guilt can involve in the next generation. This idea has close relationship with the “original sin” in Christian world. Our forefathers sin impressed on his posterities deeply and burdens them with a very heavy rood on their back since they are born. We breathe under the sinful deadweight with the curse of God. This concept， to some extend， is another Greek tragic edition.

2.3 Resource of Human Contortion and Sin from Durance of Religion.

In discussion the theme of “sin”， Hawthorne impugns the puritanical society inhibiting and destroying to the humanity directly or indirectly. His masterpiece “The Scarlet Letter” mainly reflects this thought， and his opinion to Puritanism which dominated American society 200 years ago. The story tells us a tragedy occurs in the Bostan in New England， as a background of the17th century， （the colonial age of North America） when the puritan authority controlled society rigorously. Through a moving loving tragedy， author reveals that religion smashes peoples spirit， soul and morality， impugns the hypocritical and cruel upper class of puritans and those who have political and religious right. At the beginning of the story， the heroine Hester wears a letter A—the adultery symbol to publicly expose， because she makes adultery with someone and gives a birth. She receives discrimination and repulsion of the public. In this novel， Hawthorne superficially portrays an unacceptable mistake by society and law， but virtually he discusses the commonplace of evils and the influence of evils. Dr. Chillingworth moves in to his lodgings to treat him regularly. In order to save his life， Hester meets priest initiatively， and plans to elope with him. But the plan fails. Priest can no longer bear his secret guilt he calls Hester and their daughter Pearl to mount the scaffold with him and he makes a public confessing， dying as he finishes.

Ⅲ. The Method of Expression of “Original Sin”

The idea of “original sin” is the biggest feature in Hawthornes works， and symbolism is his unique and main technique used to reflect the theme. Hawthorne usually regards objective subject as an invisible symbolic meaning， which is expressed by using a symbol in his works. Just because of this method， his works dont expose his moral concept by characters fates of his works， but reveal peoples psychology behind a certain moral behaviors. This method also installs Hawthornes works a mysterious tint and foil the theme “original sin” better.

Ⅳ.Conclusion

By reading Hawthornes works， we can easily find that sinful ideas occupied large amount of contents in his works. He uses fresh and elegant features， chaste and plain image and unforgettable environment to reflex his important theme and profound concept. Almost all his features take the society legends and anecdotes of New England in the colonization age of North America as his subject matters. These subject matters not only make him obtain a lot of knowledge and understand the true society， what most important to him is that these subject matters provide him very reliable evidences which he can use to search criticize and reveal the social spiritual immorality and hypocrisy of puritan concept. Through Hawthornes life and society background， we can know that， his ideas formation comes from a long period of exploring and scrabbling.

In Hawthornes opinion， if we want to save the whole society， we must take action in person. So he tried his best to explore human status and their fates in the people are thinking conflicts and psychological movement. This exploration could not apart from “sin”. Through it to look at society phenomena， he thought that， this abstract and miserable “sin” contributed to the social problems. This concept decided his creation tendency. But Hawthorne did not overcome these guilty things or gave a good suggestion. The main characters in the stories vandalize themselves because of moral destruction， torture themselves till to death， or disguise themselves under the alive case shell to express their penitence on morality. Although so， as a later American romanticism representative， Hawthorne made a great contribution to American literature. When the old writers portrayed ruralism and ideal pictures， Hawthorne by his unique feature， elegant design， abundant imagination and delicate plot portrait， adds a brilliant page to the literature.

Bibliography：

[1] 吳伟仁：《美国文学史及选读》第四章

[2] 张勤 唐艳芳：《纳撒尼尔·霍桑作品导读》

[3] Nathaniel Hawthorne： 《The Scarlet Letter》

[4] 马庆林：《The Sin of Human Being》