3.1 A Graceful and Beautiful Lady 4

3.2 Eager for True Love 5

3.3 Protecting Dimmesdale 5

4.As a Sinner, Working Hard to Get Salvation 5

4.1 Being Shamed for "Adultery"...........................................................5

4.2 Working Hard As a Mother and Sinner....................................................7

4.3 Final Image of Hester: Angle, Bearing the Pain of Losing Lover......................8

Conclusion...................................................................................................................10

Bibliography 12

Acknowledgements 13

1. Introduction

This novel happened in Boston, which was a colony of England in 17th century. At that time and at that place, the doctrine of Puritans was looked as the rule of people's daily life. Hawthorne was born in a puritan family, whose grandfather was an authority. That made him was deep influenced by Puritanism. On one hand, he received the doctrine of hard working and thrifty, on the other hand, He thought that the Puritan religion was too strict and harsh. We can see how he disliked them by the way people act, talk, and live.

Hester Prynne is a woman, who has great courage to devote to real love and a woman who experiences hard life and longs for freedom. She loves her life no matter how difficult it is. She tries her best to struggle against the adversity. She is a beautiful, virtuous, brave and tough woman. Because of being as a sinner, she is forced to wear an "A" on her breast to shame her. She showed extreme strength and courage to resist the bias of the Puritanism by her good deeds and finally is received and being respected by the society and get salvation through hard working.

2. Hawthorne's Intention of Creating Hester

Hawthorne was born in a puritan family so that he was deep influenced by Puritanism, but the strict punishment and the control of people's spirit also made him antipathy. Thus he created Hester, who was sinned and punished by puritan authority, but finally got salvation by hard working. Hawthorne created her sinned but also praised her braveness and strength.

2.1 Puritan Influence on Hawthorne

The story tells about the life of the resident under the surrounding of persecution derived from the ineradicable religion in Massachusetts of Boston in New England in public. Boston, which was a colony of England at that time, the local Boston people was the representative of puritans. From the political authorities to the kids playing before the church, their characteristics are the same. The thesis aims at any differences from others are hereto. At the early cultures of Boston, ages and experience are emphasis; there is no culture of younger. That's why Hawthorne makes the story happens there. To the puritans, any person or thing which is different from them will be punished or be banished. To the puritans, the laws are sacred; anyone who breaks the law should be punished strictly, that's the special environment which Hester lived in.

All his life, Hawthorne seems to be haunted by his sense of sin and evil in life. Reading his tales and romances, one cannot but be overwhelmed by the "black" vision which these works reveal. Evil exists in the human heart as is evident, for instance, in the short story, "Earth's Holocaust," which tells us that, though all symbol of tradition and the past have been burned in the bonfire of the life of the New World, the source of evil-the human heart-remains intact. Everyone seems to cover up his black veil ("The Minister's Black Veil"). Evil seems to be man's birthmark ("The Birthmark"). A. H. Quinn perceptively states that Hawthorne is at his best when dealing with sin, the supernatural, and New England past, The Scarlet Letter is set in the seventeenth century. (Barlow，2000,3)It is en elaboration of a fact which Puritanism ruled. Hester was sinned adultery, which cannot be forgiven and must be punished at that time, this reflects Hawthorne's thought of sin, everyone has sin and they must use their whole life to expiate themselves. But he also thought the punishments are too harsh. Thus why he made Hester sinned, but didn't admit her sin.

2.2 Hawthorne's Own Thoughts on Puritanism

In this novel, Hawthorne uses the repressive, authoritarian Puritan society as an analogue for humankind in general. The Puritan setting also enables him to portray the human soul under extreme pressure. Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth, while unquestionable part of the Puritan society in which they live, also reflect universal experiences. Hawthorne speaks specially to American issues, but he circumvents the aesthetic and thematic limitations that might accompany such focus. His university and his dramatic flair have ensured his place in the literary canon, tolerant and cruel. He thinks that the Puritan religion was too strict and harsh. Readers can see how he disliked them by the way people act, talk, and live.

Meanwhile, he also shows how he thought the Puritan people would react to the manner in which Hester stitched the "A", and he does not make them look very pleasant. By showing them as being ruthless, and evil, Hawthorne is able to reveal his views of the Puritan people, and how he dislikes them through the townsfolk (the woman in particular). He makes them come across as people you would love to hate. Throughout the entire book, Hester is looked down upon though slightly less as the story progresses, and is treated like a second class citizen. Hawthorne shows his distaste of the Puritan culture by expressing himself through the characters and their actions. Not one person in this novel is truly good, and all the characters sins. It is impossible to have a perfect society, and Nathaniel Hawthorne explains to us in The Scarlet Letter, that one is ruled by the Puritan religion, proves this true.(Gao,2000,4)

Nevertheless, although he is shocked by the Puritan injustice, he is convinced that there is both good and evil in Puritanism. He thinks a lot about the conflict of God as omniscient and omnipotent on one hand, and vengeful and cruel on the other. He sees that religion is able to produce evil. Things like the witch trials, where innocent people have to die, can happen in his Puritan hometown of Salem, which leads him to the opinion that the fusion of religious dogma and political authority is the worst evil. His ancestors and all the other Puritans maybe think to have found the devil when prosecuting witches, but Hawthorne is of a different opinion. Hawthorne's answer is that devil existed in everybody. It makes people blind so they are not able to recognize the evil in themselves.

In a whole, Hawthorne's attitude towards Puritanism is split. There are things he is absolutely in favor of and things he condemns from the depth of his heart. And to some extent, Hawthorne is a Puritan because of his Puritan origin. It is Puritanism that has led to today's American achievement oriented society. But Hawthorne describes the Puritan society of the 17th century as narrow and relentless. He does not share the dogmas and delusions of the people who are condemned, because he has little interest and less belief in doctrines and theological debate. His imagination is repeatedly drawn the subjects of temptation, guilt and shame. He seeks the depth of the human things.