Enlightenment from the Characters of Hero and Heroine of the Scarlet Letter

蒋樱

（苏州工业职业技术学院国际教育学院，江苏 苏州215104）

Enlightenment from the Characters of Hero and Heroine of the Scarlet Letter

蒋樱

（苏州工业职业技术学院国际教育学院，江苏 苏州215104）

After reading the novel the scarlet letter,I get an idea that the characters of hero and heroine in the novel give the readers a deep impression,showing different attitudes when facing difficulties.Besides,the development of the characters of the hero and heroine in the novel lead readers to know more about it and get great enlightenment from it.

characters；Destiny；Difficulty；Optimistic

0 Introduction

With the release of The Scarlet Letter in 1850,Nathaniel Hawthorne became well-known around the world as the greatest writer living of his age and his reputation as a major American author has been increasing ever since.The number of his readers has been accumulating in the past few years,leading a large number of people to study the novelist and his novel.Over the years going by,a great many biographical and critical studies have been written concerning him and his novel,and almost all aspects of his life and work have been treated marvelous care and attention.There is no denying that his novel is also well received among Chinese readers.

1 Main plot of characteristic development in hero and heroine

Now let us take a further insight into The Scarlet Letter where all elements of his thinking and aesthetics seem to find a comprehensive and vivid expression.The plot of the story is simple but very touching. According to the description of the novel,an aging English scholar sends his beautiful young wife,Hester Prynne by name,to make their new home in New England with their daughter by them.When he returns two years later,he is puzzled to see his wife wearing a scarlet letter A on her breast, holding her innocent child in her arms.At that moment,he realizes what happened to his wife and makes a secret plan of revenge.Determined to find out who her lover is,the old scholar disguises himself as a physician and changes his name to Roger Chillingworth.With clear intention and secret plan,he uncovers that the villain is no other than the muchrespected splendid young clergyman,Arthur Dimmesdale.Torturing himself ruthlessly for his sin,Dimmesdale finds his conscience no less ruthlessly preyed upon by Chillingworth.Feeling completely guilty,He cuts off himself from community and breaks down mentally as well as physically with the truth uncovered gradually.On the contrast,Hester Prynne’s reaction to the scarlet A is a positive one,which has a significant influence on the people around her,leading them to understand her and accept her little by little.Though living on the fringe of the community, she does her best to establish her fellowship with her neighbors on a friendly and honest basis.She helps her neighbors with selfishness or as skilled embroideries in an unobtrusive and undemanding way,finally winning their love and respect.This is the point which gives me a deep impression.At the beginning of the story,due to her adultery,she is mocked and laughed at by the people living around her;but she doesn’t feel discouraged and depressed and hated,she tries her best to help people in need from the bottom of her heart.Generally,people may disconnect or be far away from others when meeting this kind of difficulties or trouble,but Hester Prynne chooses to stay with them and gets along with them well and does some good deeds for them,making people accepting her and the scarlet letter on her breast.At last,she doesn’t feel embarrassed about her scarlet A at all.So I think that whatever difficulties we meet,whatever misunderstanding happens to us and whenever we are discouraged,we should follow Hester Prynne as example,strong willed,courageous,true. That is,not what we think,but what we do determine what others will treat us.In a word,gather the courage to confront everything facing us,no matter how struggling it is to deal with.

2 Enlightenment from the characters

After reading the whole novel,we can find Dimmesdale totally isolates himself from society.Deeply limiting himself to his own world,he lives a stranger among his admirers.As a consequence,whereas Hester is able to reconstruct her life and wins a moral victory,Dimmesdale experiences the tragic experiences of physical and mental disintegration, which directly leads to the tragic end.He dies as an honest man,which is true,but dies in part of his own hand.In the characters Hawthorne creates in the novel,he has the clear intention to point out the moral implication that the best policy for man is to be true,honest,and even ready to show one’s unknown partto the outside world.Luckily,Hesterdoes it throughout her life,using her strong will to overcome all kinds difficulties in life.Supposed that Dimmesdale accepts the truth as Hester did, probably he will not be admired so much by his fellow people,even they think he is a fallible person and he can’t be a clergyman,but he will not feel uneasy in conscience and will not be tortured by Roger Chilling worth and will not lead to a tragedy at last.

3 Conclusion

Comparing Hester with Dimmesdale,from my point of view,when facing destiny,one chooses the positive way to face it while the other chooses the negative one.And the result is clear in the novel.According to this,I can see that when we meet some unfortunate things in life,we should keep optimistic to face it and deal with it.We should also affirm that people have courage to overcome every difficulty and everything will be fine after the storm.Life is full of hinders and troubles,and as a person in the world,we should wear smiles all the time to meet it and get rid of it.Only in this way can we behave ourselves in life and work.

［1］Blair Walter.American Literature:A Brief History[M].Glenview:Scott,Foresman and Co.1974.

［2］Chang Yao xin.A survey of American Literature[M].Tianjing:Nankai University Press.2001.

［3］James,Henry.Hawthorne[M].London:Macmillan.1902.

［4］Spiller,RobertE.TheCycleofAmericanLiterature[M].London:Macmillan.1955．

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