文档介绍：1 Introduction
A lot of themes have been intensely debated by literary critics since the novel The Scarlet Letter written by American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne came out. Critics hold their own viewpoints respectively. Among these perspectives, symbolism of the capital letter “A”, feminism of the heroine Hester Prynne and self-salvation of the three main characters occupy the vast majority, and the topic of feminism is the most drastically discussed.
In this novel, Hawthorne concentrated on describing the weakness and sadness about female society in the world of puritan. And the story carried a deep influence of Hawthorne by Puritanism. In terms of the topic, some scholars have studied and made some progress about the origin and development, however, why the Feminism emerged in that period and what caused such female movement or female consciousness enlightenment have been in certain doubt.
This thesis analyses the reason of feminism mainly from character relationship and how the residents in this small village treat her from the beginning to the end. This thesis is designed to answer in what occasion that Hester Prynne realizes her own proper rights and starts to react to the unfair and inequality imposed on her by the society.
2 Theatrical backgrounds
Hawthorne and his works
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) is greatest romantic novelist in the first half of the 19th century in the history of American literature, and also a psychological analysis novel creator in American romantic literature. Poe said that “his novels belong to the highest level of art, subject to a very high level of artistic genius.”(Richard, 1955:)Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in a declined family of Salem, Massachusetts, on the July 4, 1804.
One of his forefathers was involved in Puritan persecuted heresy, for the famous 1692 “Salem driving witch’s case” as one of the three judges. This period of history had a profound effect on Hawthorne’s thought, whose effect influenced his