分类号单位代码密级学号0503210112**大学学生毕业论文(空三行)题目论《红字》中女性的独立与尊严(空五行)作者:(空四行)指导教师专业技术职称小三号,宋学科(专业)答辩日期(空两行)2010年 5月(顶部空两行)The Dignity and Independence of Female Character inThe Scarlet Letter(空两行)A Thesis Presented to theFaculty of Foreign Language DepartmentYulin University(空两行)In Partial Fulfillmentof the Requirements for the Degree of(空一行)Bachelor of Arts(空两行)byYan WeiMay,2010Acknowledgements(圈内使用Times New Roman 体,小四号,1.5倍行距,两端对齐)(正文前页码用罗马数字i, ii, iii, iv依次计页)Abstract:Nathaniel Hawthorne’s masterpiece The Scarlet Letter has been focused on since it was published, but most of the critics pay more attention to the themes of the work, the technique of reflection and so on rather than the main character, Hester Prynne. They simply regard her as a fallen or scarlet woman instead of penetrating her tragic trace of life and her waken spirits against the male-dominated society of stepping on the top of a graceful female. This study mainly analyzes the woman’s spirit of perseverance and distinctive sense of values from social-cultural background and identifies that how she achieves and maintains the dignity and self-independent personality.(空一行)Keywords: fallen woman; male-dominated society; dignity; self-independent personality摘要:霍桑的代表作《红字》自出版以来备受关注。
但是,大多数评论家关注更多的是此作品的主题,表现手法等,而不是女主人公海斯特·白兰。
他们仅仅认为她是一个堕落的女人,并没有对她悲剧的一生,反男权社会的悟性和勇气以及步入尊贵女性殿堂的艰难历程进行深入探讨。
本文着重从社会文化背景的角度分析了这位女性坚持不懈的精神和独具特色的价值观,并且鉴定了她是如何保持和(空一行)关键词:堕落的女人男权社会尊严自我独立的个性(正文前页码用罗马数字i, ii, iii, iv依次计页)Table of ContentsA cknowledgements (i)Abstract in English (ii)Abstract in Chinese (iii)1Introduction (1)1.1 The author Nathaniel Hawthorne (1)1.2 The introduction of The Scarlet Letter (2)2 The Statement of Hester and the Original Sin (5)2.1 The description of the social and culture background (5)2.1.1 The statement of Puritanism (5)2.1.2 The statement of male-dominated social system (6)2.2 The approaches of Hester Prynne’s penance and struggle (8)2.2.1 The argument of penance (8)2.2.2 Hester Prynne’s tolerance (8)3 Analysis of Hester Prynn e’s Independent Personality ··93.1 The analysis of the freedom of spirit (9)3.2 The analysis of the will of self-discipline (10)4 Conclusion (11)4.1 The summary of Hester’s fate (11)4.2 The author’s purpose of portraying this woman (11)4.3 The relation between Hester and the scarlet letter “A” (12)References (13)The Dignity and Independence of Female Character inThe Scarlet Letter1 IntroductionThe Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a classical novel in American literature in the 19th century. Since the first Chinese translation of The Scarlet Letter appears in the 1950’s, scholars and readers in this country have shown an ever-increasing interest in his works. Its immortal enchantment lies in not only its condemnation of the negative impact of puritan society on people’s spirit, but also its affirmation of female’s position and value. This part includes three aspects: The introduction of author, his work The Scarlet Letter and the protagonist Hester Prynne.1.1 The author Nathaniel HawthorneWith the publication of The Scarlet Letter in 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne becomes famous as the greatest writer living then in the United States (as indeed some critics put it) and his reputation as a major American author has been on the increase ever since. In fact, his puzzles with the sin are uncertainty to his life, which can be found from his works, especially in The Scarlet Letter, and most of his thoughts can be reflected from Hester Prynne. In another word, in this novel the woman also leaves us the impression that she is a contradicted woman, especially her compromised attitude to her husband at first. As the plot develops, her strongness is exposed gradually. What’s more, in the author’s mind, the woman’s sin is the mode of all humans’, and the original sin never gets away easily. Her strong nature and weak behavior are the exact reflection of Hawthorne’s contradiction in thinking. In addition, Hester’s struggle against the society properly embodies the author’s resentment in hisheart.1.2 The introduction to The Scarlet LetterThe Scarlet Letter is Nathaniel Hawthorne’s masterpiece. It is published in 1850. The story is set in the puritan society of the 17th century. An aged English scholar, Roger Chillingworth sends his beautiful wife Hester Prynne to make their new home in New England .When he comes over two years later, he is surprised to see his wife in pillory, wearing a scarlet letter “A” on her breast and holding her illicit child in her Here the author, Hawthorne portrays her stubbornness, dismissive view to authorities elaborately. Hester, as a woman, she can not break away completely from her softness, some of a weakness even submission to an extent. Because of this, when her husband compromises with her apparently in order to tempt her to speak out who is her adulterer, she really performs guilt and sorry for her husband as she admitted “ thou knoewest that I was frank with thee. I felt no love, nor feined any” (Hawthorne, 2001: 22) .Although she does not give away the secret to her husband, she gives a certain concession on the condition that she never reveals her husband’s real identity which provides her husband a good chance to carry out his plot of revenge accordingly. When she is kept out of the prison wearing the scarlet letter on her bosom as a punishment all her life, neither does she put it down nor choose to escape but accepts it willingly, her action of honesty promotes her to be positive to her dark life.“I might endure his agony, as well as mine”(Hawthorne, 2001: 17). For her love, she can endure all threatening as well as insults.2.2.3Hester Prynne’s kindnessOn the surface, Hester’s kindness seems to be against the original sin, as is insisted by Christians all the time, but the author still introduces us her kindness during her penance. In fact, it also reflects the author’s suspicious to the rules of Christianity.(本页需加注页眉)(顶部空一行)Notes(空一行)○1 The chart shows ……………. ○2 It is well accepted in this area that …………………….(顶部空一行)References(空一行)[1] Chang Yaoxin. The History of American Literature [M]. Tianjin: NankaiUniversity Press ,2004. .[2]Hawthorne, Nathanial. The Scarlet Letter [M]. Shanghai: Shanghai ForeignLanguage Education Press, 2001.[3] James ,D. Hart. The Oxford Companion to American Literature (The Fifth Edition)[D]. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983.[4] Pennell, M. Mcfauand. Masterpieces of American Romantic Literature [M].Beijing: Chinese People University of China Press, 2007.[5] Wang Songnian. Selected Readings in American Literature [M]. Shanghai:Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press, 1988.[6] Xie Wenyu. Freedom and Survival-Western Ideas of Freedom in The History ofTrack [M]. (Translated by Wang Yumin and Zhang Xiuhua). Shanghai:Shanghai People Press, 2007.说明:论文集中的文章:引用论文集中的文章时,参考书目要提供以下信息:作者,出版年代,文章名称(正体,只有第一单词的首字母大写),编者、论文集名称、所引文章的起始页码、出版地点、出版机构。