中国青年政治学院学年论文开题报告
外国语言文学
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论文题目 Hawthorne ’s View on Puritanism in The Scarlet Letter as seen from Puritanism
background ,protagonists and symbolism in the novel
本课题国内外研究动态及意义：
Ever since Hawthorne’s masterpiece The Scarlet Letter came out, a lot of literature
studies have been done home and abroad. Of all, the study of the author’s attitude toward
Puritanism in this novel have also attracted lots of attention, because although Puritanism is not
Hawthorne’s religious belief ,it bears a longstanding and deep influence on his literature because
Puritanism is Hawthorne’s theoretical weapon to understand human beings and society. As
Hawthorne is one of the most prestigious novelists of 19th century America, a good
understanding of Hawthorne’s view of Puritanism is key to understanding his classic works, and
even offers a panorama to the profound influences of Puritanism on American literature.
As for this topic, although many studies from different angles have offered a similar view
about Hawthorne’s convincing yet critical, approving yet doubting attitude towards Puritanism,
however, their views have shown strong contradiction, and they cannot give a persuasive
explanation about the reason of their contradiction. Besides, their analysis hasn’t been fully
developed and not comprehensive .
This thesis will try to give an overall analysis about Hawthorne’s attitude toward
Puritanism in The Scarlet Letter from the author’s family background, the social background of
Puritanism, the protagonists as well as the symbolism in this novel, in order to get a better and
more objective understanding of this topic, thus better understanding Hawthorne’s works, and
other famous literary works under the influences of Puritanism.
文献综述
Since Hawthorne’s classic work The Scarlet Letter came out, it has triggered a series of
literature criticism. Going from traditionally social, historical and ethical angles through
archetypal criticism, into new criticism, structuralism, feminism of the 20th century, and now
returning to cultural study, which includes historical, religious and ideological criticism, the study
of Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter has formed a history of literature criticism. About Hawthorne’s
attitude towards Puritanism reflected in this novel, there are also various views. While earlier
studies consider Hawthorne as a “campaign of anti-religious dictatorship”(Su 115), recent studies
tend to think that Hawthorne’s attitude towards Puritanism is “contradictory and
ambiguous”(Ma 73-75), that is he shows both his praise and criticism to Puritanism in this novel.
The earlier view on Hawthorne’s religious attitude in The Scarlet Letter is that Hester is a
pioneer in pursuing individual liberty and freedom of love, while Dimmesdale represents
religious hypocrisy and is the sacrifice of religious regime, and so Hawthorne is critical on
Puritanism and rejects its beliefs. However, taking the ethical theme of this novel, the
development of the protagonists’ characters and fates, as well as its narrative angle, the above
claims are simplified(Su 115).
Recent studies, however, hold the common view that Hawthorne actually held a
contradictory and ambiguous attitude towards Puritanism in The Scarlet Letter. On one hand, he
highly praised and was firmly convinced of Puritanism’s such doctrines as “original sin””inward
corruption”(Peng 65-67), etc. as well as its ”Goodwill and purifying function”(Ma 75). On the
other hand, he harshly criticized the “bigotry, cruelty and inhumanity of Puritanism”(Ma 75).
Nevertheless, inside the studies of this view, there can be divided into three different groups
according to their different focuses: one focused on the Biblical Archetypes in this novel, one
focused on analysis of protagonists of this novel, another focused on the influences of
Puritanism on Hawthorne’s religious attitude in The Scarlet Letter.
The first group has found character archetypes, plot archetypes, as well as structure
archetypes of The Scarlet Letter in Bible, such as Ma Junjie’s Hawthorne’s Religious View As Seen
in the Biblical Archetypes in The Scarlet Letter, 2002, and Peng Shiyu’s Hawthorne’s Novels and
the Biblical Archetypes, 2005, thus offering us the religious sources of Hawthorne’s attitude
towards Puritanism. The second group , of which are representatives of Zhao and Wang, has
made an analysis of Hawthorne’s religious attitude by looking directly into protagonists like
Hester, Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, and Pearl, and analyzing their characters, fates, as well as
their words and behaviors, offering us the direct explanation to it. The third group mainly
focuses on the influences of Puritanism background and history on the author, and gives the
relationship between Puritanism and Hawthorne, such as Jian Gongyou’s “The Unforgettable
Scarlet Letter: Hawthorne’s Puritan Warning” and Zhang Junying’s “The Influences of Puritanism
on Hawthorne’s Works”.
Although those three groups have their deep study and unique exploration about The
Scarlet Letter, and they hold almost the same view about Hawthorne’s convincing yet critical,
approving yet doubting attitude towards Puritanism, however, their views have shown strong
contradiction, and they cannot give a persuasive explanation about the reason of their
contradiction.( Jian 94) Besides, their analysis hasn’t been fully developed and not
comprehensive . Therefore, there should be further study and analysis that
•Tries to solve the contradictions in the above views
•Is based on more comprehensive information including Hawthorne’s family background,
the historical and social backgrounds, Puritanism background, the analysis of the protagonists,
other characters, environment, as well as the symbolism in the novel.
•Shows more impartial criticism by comparing Hawthorne’s several other classic works of
similar themes with The Scarlet Letter
Works-Cited
Jian Gongyou. “The Unforgettable Scarlet Letter: Hawthorne’s Puritan
Warning.”
(2008):
Journal of Jishou University Social Sciences Edition
29.4
94-98
Ma Junjie. “Hawthorne’s Religious View As Seen in the Biblical Archetypes in
The Scarlet Letter.”
25.1 (2002):
Journal of PLA University of Foreign Languages
73-75
Peng Shiyu. “Hawthorne’s Novels and the Biblical Archetypes.”
Literature
No.4
Foreign
(2005): 64-69
Su Yuxiao. “Sin and Redemption: Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter from a
Christian Ethical Perspective.”
Foreign Literature Study No.4
(2007):
115-120
WANG Chu, CHEN Liang-hong. “Hawthorne’s Religious Attitude from The
Scarlet Letter.” Journal of Heilongjiang College of Education
28.1
(2009): 136-137
Zhang Jing. “An Analysis on Hawthorne’s Puritanism View From the Angle of
Religious Philosophy.”
Foreign Language Education
26.5 (2005):
82-86
Zhao Huan. “Hawthorne’s Religious Attitude from the Protagonists of The
Scarlet Letter.” JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTEOF JIL IN PROVINCE
25.205
(2009): 128-129
Zhou Shuang. “Looking at Hawthorne’s View of Redemption.”
Review (2005): 41-45
Masterpieces
毕业论文研究内容、拟解决的主要问题：（outline）
Ⅰ. introduction
Ⅱ. Thesis statement: From the Puritanism background ,protagonists and symbolism in the
novel, Hawthorne all shows his convincing yet critical, approving yet doubting attitude towards
Puritanism, that is on one hand, he highly praised and was firmly convinced of Puritanism’s such
doctrines as “original sin” and ”inward corruption”, as well as its ”Goodwill and purifying
function”; while on the other hand, he harshly criticized the “bigotry, cruelty and inhumanity of
Puritanism”.
Ⅲ.brief biography of Hawthorne
Ⅳ.from the point of Puritanism background
A. Hawthorne’s Puritan ancestry
The fact that a great-great grandfather of his had served as a judge for the Salem witch trials
convinced him of the cruelty of Puritanism, and left him a feeling of personal responsibility
and guilt.
B. Social Puritanism background
a. Calvinism was very popular in Hawthorne’s hometown
b. Predestination of Calvinism which included original sin , redemption and suffering
ever played an important role in the early development of American history, as was
approved of by Hawthorne.
c. The bigotry, cruelty and inhumanity of Puritanism caused great destruction to
humanity, as was witnessed by Hawthorne.
Ⅴ. From the point of protagonists of The Scarlet Letter
A. Hester Prynne
a. On one hand, she was sinned, for after all, she committed adultery by luring the
minister, with his full cooperation, from the straight and narrow path of orthodoxy,
and she bore some responsibility for the corruption of Chillingworth’s soul. This
showed Hawthorne’s approval of Puritanism’s doctrine of original sin and inward
corruption.
b. On the other hand, she stood against all the insults and punishment put on her by the
representatives of Puritanism through bravely wearing A on her chest, dressing Pearl
as a little princess and doing charity to the town people. All of those not only showed
Hawthorne’s criticism on the coldness, cruelty and inhumanity of Puritanism, but also
showed his pursuit for freedom and liberation.
B. Arthur Dimmesdale
a. The same with Hester, he was also originally sinned by committing adultery which was
a more direct offense against Puritanism as a minister himself.
b. However, on the other hand, he was the victim and sacrifice of Puritanism’s cruelty
and inhumanity which caused a split between his private and public self, his purity and
his passion. That is, on one hand, he was a young man with love, while on the other
hand, being a minister, he saw his adultery with Hester as a great sin against the
sacred law, and was tortured by his confession of his offense, which finally led to his
death. From this point, it is Hawthorne’s strong condemnation against the rigidity,
extreme restraints, and inhumanity of Puritanism.
Ⅵ. From the point of the symbolism in the novel
A. The letter “A”
a. Symbol of “adultery”
b. Symbol of “angel” or “able”
B. Pearl
a. On one hand, pearl was the symbol of Hester’s sin of adultery. She kept asking Hester
the meaning of the letter, which served to reminded Herter of her sin and
redemption. This showed Hawthorne’s approval of Puritanism’s doctrine of personal
responsibility and guilt, as well as its goodwill and purifying function.
b. On the other hand, pearl’s innocent and natural personality, as well as the result of
her inheriting Chillinhworth’s great legacy and living happily in Europe all showed
Hawthorne’s pursuit for freedom and liberation against Puritanism.
Ⅶ. Conclusion
毕业论文研究方法、步骤及措施：
As to the methodology of this thesis, resources mainly include books,
periodicals, electronic books and articles, as well as published dissertations,
and they are obtained mainly from school library, Chinese or foreign websites, etc.
The writing of the thesis will be arranged according to the following schedule:
March 1,2010-March 14,2010
March 15,2010-March 31,2010
April 1,2010-April 14,2010
April 15,2010-April 22,2010
April 23,2010-May 10,2010
May 11,2010-May 20, 2010
May 21,2010-May 25,2010
May 26,2010-May 30,2010
to figure out the topic of the thesis
to search for relative resources
to write the literature review of the thesis
to revise the literature review of the thesis
to write the research proposal of the thesis
to write the draft of the thesis
to revise the draft of the proposal under the guidance
of the advisor
to finish the thesis