An Analysis of t he Characters’ Names in Scarlet LetterZhuo haoLi Shan CollegeShandong Normal UniversityTABLE OF CONTENTSAbstract (3)Key Words (3)摘要 (3)关键词...................................................................................................... 错误！未定义书签。

1.Introduction (4)2.Analysis of the Characters' Names in the novel (4)2.1.Hester Prynne —A strong mother deserted in the new world (4)2.2.Arthur Dimmesdale—An autistic and weak sinner. (6)2.3.Roger Chillingworth—A lonely avenger. (7)2.4.Pearl —Angel in the sinning world. (8)3.Conclusion (9)References (11)AbstractScarlet Letter highlights the superb artistry of Nathaniel Hawthorne to use symbolism to illustrate the theme of his works. The names of four main characters each contain profound meaning, underlining the multiple implications and themes of the novel and giving specific image to the theme from different perspectives. The name Hester Prynne conveys the meaning of ―be hasty in love‖ and ―the ability to get rid of the sin she had committed‖. Arthur Dimmesdale means ―a man committed the crime of adultery but was such a coward that he could not assume the responsibility‖Roger Chillingworth also has profound implications. First it reveals the role of this character—avenger. And we can infer the mixed feelings of the author towards him. Pearl means the ―most precious thing‖, indicating the moral power of this young girl that exerted on her parents and the society.Key WordsTheme Symbolism Characters Crime摘要《红字》突出了纳撒尼尔霍桑运用象征手法来说明他的作品的主题的高超技艺。

四个主要角色的名字都包含的深刻含义，强调了多重暗示和小说的主题，并从不同角度给予主题以具体的形象。

海丝特白兰的名字传达了“人在爱情上的草率”的含义与“有能力为她所犯下的”罪恶进行赎罪和得到解脱。

”阿瑟丁梅斯代尔的意思是“犯了通奸罪的人”，但就是这样一个懦夫，他不承担自己的责任。

罗杰齐灵渥斯也有深远的意义。

首先，它揭示了这个人物扮演了复仇者的角色。

我们可以推断出作者的对他的复杂感情。

珠儿是指“最宝贵的东西”，她的名字表明这个精灵般的小女给她的父母和社会施加道德力量。

关键词主题，象征，角色，罪恶An Analysis of t he Characters’ Names in Scarlet Letter1.IntroductionScarlet Letter is the representative work of American romantic writer Nathaniel Hawthorne of the nineteenth century. With nuanced psychological analysis and profound symbolism，this novel explored the root of human evils and revealed the old and eternal theme of human nature.（韩维，美国文学史纲，1980）Based on the analysis of the names of four characters, the essay is intended to reveal the special function of the names of the characters in underlining the characters‘ personality and revealing the themes of the novel, and to make a further research of the application of symbolism in the romantic works.2.Analysis of the Characters' Names in the novel2.1.Hester Prynne —A strong mother deserted in the new worldHester Prynne is considered as the heroine of the novel. Hester Prynne was a beautiful and strong woman abandoned to the new continent by her false and cowardly husband, and she is also a woman committing the crime of adultery. As a wife betraying her husband and having an affair with a young priest, she had committed an unforgivable felony in the eyes of puritans. （罗伯特·斯勒比，美国文学的循环，1981）But Hester Prynne was depicted as a brave woman who was determined to pursue freedom and liberation and true love .She carried a heavy scarlet letter and kept moving forward on the road of disengagement and self-improvement, seeking a whole new life in the desert of the new continent. Hester Prynne was a pioneer pursuing freedom, liberation and true love. Although at the very beginning of the novel, she started to suffer humiliation of burden, Hester Prynne, with her clothing and pose, showed her calmness and compose. It seemed that she was not like a sinner, but a wild rose at the door of the prison. From her name, we can see some of her character and presume the symbolic significanceHawthorne gave to the heroine. Hester Prynne‘s give n name has similar pronunciation with ―hasty‖, revealing the hasty factors in her personality: marriage with the old scholar who cannot satisfy her love and falling in love with Dimmesdale quickly when she met the young priest both illustrate this point. But the deep reason behind her hastiness is obvious –the unreasonable marriage system. Her youth and vitality were so extremely oppressed that she revolted to resistance and rebellion. The family name Prynne has similar pronunciation with ―prune‖, which me ans deletion, suggesting that she can wash away her sin through her own efforts and defiance. What‘s more, the name also means the deletion of American Dream. From divinity to humanity, from naive to maturity, the collapse of American Dream is obvious. From a small plaything in the hand of God to a master of her own fate, Hester Prynne had made a big step forward. In the end of the story, the frankness of Arthur Dimmesdale and the maturity of Pearl finally released Prynne of her sin, indicating that people begin to cast off the control of God and begin to pursue the harmony between God and themselves .She was representative of kindness, justice and beauty, but at the same time she was the victim of the false religious persecution. Due to her strength, she had lived through the religious persecution and the reproach of others, and stubbornly pursued a normal life belonging to her. The brave woman elaborately embroidered the scarlet letter and dressed her Pearl intentionally. She attempted to defend her right to raise her daughter and respected her wild nature, and cultivated her to a true girl. She had paid a heavy price for her pursuit of true love, but she did not yield, and expressed her dissatisfaction and rebellion with her own ways of luxuriant dress, charming appearance, and strength of lifestyle that changed people's opinions around her, all of these reflect her energy. The name Hester Prynne devised by Hawthorne, not only revealed the reason of her crime, but also pointed out that she can stand up by herself in the following life. After being released from jail Hester Prynne, instead of giving up or despising herself, faced the indifferent society bravely. She offered to coordinate her social relationships with others, and to make her way into the society, as well tried to live a normal life like others -- despite the scarlet letter that gleamed on her chest. She had an excellent needlework, by which she managed to raise her daughter and herself and to help others with her hands .With her own hands and heart, she melted the indifference, and finally made people accept her. The Scarlet representing adultery was turn into a medal of able and angel.（Nathaniel Hawthorne , scarlet letter.1994）2.2.Arthur Dimmesdale—An autistic and weak sinner.The hero Arthur Dimmesdale was a young priest. He was the causer of Hester Prynne‗s suffering .Being a slave of the false religion, he was fettered by the religious rules, causing himself extremely condemned and died from the spiritual persecution and self-imposed torture. Arthur easily reminds us of Adam, who has committed the original sin. He couldn't escape the seduce of the natural instinct in the fight between the soul and the body and was conquered, combining with Hester Prynne. However, Compared with Hester Prynne, he was extremely weak and was a true coward, which resulted from the bound by religion. He didn't want to openly confess his sin, for this kind of desire was too much tinged with atonement and introspection and other religious consciousness, so his action was always thwarted. He had not only to suffer the condemnation from his heart, but also to prevent the peek from outside .Apparently, he has his own love, but instead of preserving it, he regarded this pure feeling as evil thing. He was in pain and struggled with it for seven years. Although he tore his clothes and let people see the mark of sin on his chest, suggesting the completion of the soul purification and the moral sublimation, he didn't have the courage to admit his love, let alone with the spirit of broke away with the old system totally . In English the name Arthur is representative of nobility and sublime. Therefore, a distinct contrast appeared. Arthur Dimmesdale put his crime deeply hidden in his heart and didn‘t admit that he was the father of Pearl, so his heart has been suffering. He put himself isolated from the society and confined himself in his own closed world, and finally ended up with death .He had no one but himself to blame for his death. What he did was not noble at all, what we saw was a cowardly and incompetent priest who dared not to admit his love and take his responsibility. Therefore irony arose; Hawthorne gave such a high name to such a weak and irresponsible priest, intensifying the power of criticism of his crime. The initial of his name is AD, hinting that he was destined to commit adultery. After the exposure of his adultery, as a man, he was so weak that he left the burden and suffering to his lover, whose gender was always representative of weakness. If, Hester Prynne, from the start, admitted her sin and tried to do redemptive work, and finally washed the sin. Then Dimmesdale began with hiding the adultery affair and finally received liberation by death through repentance. Let‘s discuss the reason he dared not to admit his adultery. According to the Puritan community and the 17th century romantic individualism creed, one must be a faithful follower, or an honest confessor as a faithful follower, Dimmesdale had no other choice but to hide his sin, because once he admitted his adultery, he would be punished and deserted by the puritan society. However, the moreDimmesdale denied his relationship with Hester Prynne and their children, the closer his relationship with worldly power. So the distance was growing further and further, the pain deeper and deeper, the guilt heavier and heavier. Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne had committed the same sin, and he suffered no less than Hester Prynne from the scarlet letter. Because what he did violated the religious dogmas to which he was devoted, so his personality split, and he had more experience of alienation than Hester Prynne.2.3.Roger Chillingworth—A lonely avenger.Roger Chillingworth was the negative figures of the novel .As the husband of Hester Prynne and a scholar, he had committed unforgivable crime: knowing that his wife had adultery, he spared no effort to find the man, finally he found him and tortured him spiritually for seven years, and then Dimmesdale died of spiritual collapse. He was also a sinner. The name Roger Chillingworth reminds us first Jolly Roger. Jolly Roger is the name given to any of various flags flown to identify a ship's crew as pirates. The most famous Jolly Roger is the Skull and Crossbones, a skull over two long bones set in an X arrangement on a black field. Historically, the flag was flown to induce pirates' victims to surrender readily. Roger Chillingworth was like a pirate. After discovering the man seducing his wife was Dimmesdale, he was irritated. However; Dimmesdale would never surrender to him and confess his adultery readily to him. Therefore, Roger Chillingworth began to seek another way to avenge. And he indeed adhered to his determination. He considered his life goal was merely revenge, and he took the advantage of being a doctor to approach Dimmesdale. In other people‘s eyes, he was a good doctor as he paid much attention to the sick priest. However, actually he kept prosecuting the priest ruthlessly for seven years, and he knew what he did would bring severe consequence, but he gave no regard to the human conscience and morality, so at the end of the novel, the priest could no longer endure the spiritual torment, dying miserably after confessing his sin. Before his death .he pointed that Roger Chillingworth was also a sinner, and really the sin Chillingworth had committed was no less than that of his. Roger Chillingworth used to be a victim, but his only goal was seeking revenge and punishing Dimmesdale's sin, so finally he lost his own conscience and reason. The interference in other people's soul reversely turned him into a deeper sinner. In many ways Nathaniel Hawthorne described the malicious man's unique revenge. He continually seek the method of hinting to torment the young priest, and stimulated Dimmesdale uneasiness by what seemed to be caring words, so he could receive psychological compensation. In the sense of western people, people's body may suffer because of the tribulations of fate and the hardness of life. However, the soul is inviolable, so undoubtedly the action of Chillingworth is blaspheming the sanctifying soul. Chillingworth was a killer of soul. However, he himself never obtained anything but remorse and a sense of guilt, and he died one year later. His ugliness and hypocrisy symbolized the darkness and the incompleteness of the puritan society, and he was also representative of the decayingreligious force, which was doomed to be protested and be broken by the sincerity of love. His family name Chillingworth consists of two parts, chilling and worth. Chilling indicates his cruelty, and worth his value.（余江涛，张瑞德，西方文学术语词典，1989）Chillingworth was the maker of the scarlet letter. His ugly appearance and deformed body indicated his ugliness and deformity of the soul. The way he chose to revenge was unbearable to Dimmesdale, and actually Chillingworth became a devil preventing his atonement, which was very incommensurate with his identity of scholar. He turned his love to Hester Prynne to his hatred to Dimmesdale and regarded revenge as the only goal in life with no regard to Christian spirit. So he was transformed from a victim to a devourer of soul, and he would never receive after death. All of these deeds reflect his chillness. However, Roger Chillingworth was not devoid of merits. There was some value in his character that worth mentioning. Interestingly, in the end of the novel Hawthorne told us the outcome of .According to his will, Roger Chillingworth put his considerable assets in North America and Britain to the name of Pearl- the daughter of Hester Prynne and the man he killed. Is this his repentance for the sin he had committed, or a kind of expression of the recovery of humanity? Or both? Anyway, the action itself is a kind of benevolence, because it was objectively the premise and guarantee of a happy and stable life of Pearl. This last will was of extreme importance to development of the character. To a certain extent, it avoided the trend of describing this character as a one-sided and simple-minded person and illustrated his complexity and variability in character. Meanwhile, this meaningful conclusion gives us a thinking space. Therefore, we can't help asking: what was in his mind when he made this will? What thought drove him make such a will as of no benefit to himself? And, in other words, he had no obligation to do so. If he wanted to do benevolent work, he can put this property to the church or other poor people, but he didn't. Thus, this final good action of indicated Chilling worth‘s repentance on the deathbed to a certain extent, and it was also a kind of recovery of his human conscience Therefore; we say that Chillingworth was a character that was depicted with mixed feelings by the author.2.4.Pearl —Angel in the sinning world.Pearl is the only character that worth meriting in the novel. Among the four main characters in the novel, only Pearl was morally perfect and she was representative of the bright side of human society. So the perfection of Pearl deeply contrasts with the defects of others and the society they lived in.（常耀信，美国文学简史，2008）She was the product of her mother‘s sin as well as t he product of her love with the young priest. The name evolved from Latin word Pernulo. It's another name Margarite, which is from the ancient Persian Sanskrit, meaning "son of the sea". Pearl is extremely rare and precious. According to the Bible, God required a merchant to sell all his fortune for a pearl, and told him that this pearl was his Heaven. Therefore, the intention of the author was obvious: Pearl was the most precious character in the novel. The author compared her with many beautiful things, indicating that she was the spiritual pillar was her mother and the presentation of American spirit. The smile of Pearl had consoled the broken heart of her mother and brought vigor and life to thesuffocating Boston puritan society. The preciousness of Pearl was also illustrated by that she was the reminder of the sin of her mother and father. Pearl was universally known as a symbol of sin, an uncivilized child, and a wild child. She was abandoned by the puritan society and was discriminated as well oppressed, so she grew up in nature. However, the unconquerable pearl was full of vitality, and she was naughty and was not afraid of anything, and she was not willing to receive any hurt from outside world. It seemed that she was not a secular child, but a fairy. Her freedom derived from her instinct and her exuberant vitality. And her appearance kept urging her parents to do penance and to purify their soul. Pearl was extremely interested in the scarlet letter on her mother‘s chest, and she often grabbed the sca rlet letter and threw leaves and grass to the scarlet letter. What‘s more, she often asked questions about the scarlet letter, which made her mother and father mortified and suffer, so they could remember their sin. And it was Pearl‘s existence that made D immesdale confess his sin in the public. Therefore, Pearl, who proved the sin of her parents, became a symbol of morality, and her life meant that her parents must take responsibility for their sin. Pearl also represented social conscience, and a powerful evidence of social conscience. During the suffering experience in the scaffold, Pearl strongly held her mother, and her occasionally spasm reflected Hester Prynne' spiritual struggle. Moreover, Pearl reminded us a kind of rebelling force that was brought by the very birth of a human being. Human beings were born to revolt against the injustice and unfairness. Pearl didn‘t know the meaning of scarlet letter, which was intended to tell us that she was not bound by the horrible and false rules of a corrupted puritan society, where any deed violating their creeds will be severely punished. In fact, pearl was a corollary of the plot of this novel. Hawthorne instilled the elusive force in the body of her parents that seduced them to commit adultery into Pearl, let her smile, action and other deeds flashed with light of life. This light of life appalled the New England Puritans, causing their uneasiness. Pearl was fond of all flowers and grass in nature, and she had an unknown fear and hostility towards Chillingworth. At the beginning she kept a distance between herself and Dimmesdale, but finally she charged into his arms. Under all these there were unspoken words: the wild rebelling forces that permeated with Pearl was natural and instinctive. Hester Prynne had paid a high price in order to bring her daughter to this world, and Pearl occupied a very important position in her heart, because she was all her wealth. Pearl is also very bright , so Pearl is the spiritual prop of Hester Prynne, comforting her heart , also bringing vitality and vigor to Boston.3.ConclusionIn conclusion, Hawthorne employed various techniques such as Greek mythology, biblical story, and homophonic to name the characters, making his work contains multiple implication and theme. Because of their names, the main characters of the novel represent different moral implications, such as beauty, ugliness, kindness, and evil. The names help to describe the personality of the characters to a fuller range and hint the relation between thecharacters and the theme, making this novel an enduring and implicit one. The successful use of symbolism illustrated the themes of the novel from different sides and gave the themes concrete images. Scarlet Letter helps establish Hawthorne‘s position in American literature as a forerunner of using symbolism to illustrate themes of novel. The understanding of the implications of characters‘ names was a key to the further research of this novel.11ReferencesNathaniel Hawthorne.(1994) .scarlet letter. 外语教学与研究出版社常耀信.（2008）.美国文学简史. 南开大学出版社韩维.（1980）.美国文学史纲. 山东友谊出版社.罗伯特·斯勒比.（1981）.美国文学的循环. 北京师范大学出版社.余江涛，张瑞德.（1989）.西方文学术语词典. 黄河文艺出版社..。