The Scarlet Letter

The book has been around for a hundred years, but it can still be celebrated by the classics. In addition to the wonderful story itself and the vivid characters, it is also inseparable from the unique artistic techniques in Hawthorne's work. The novel uses metaphor, symbolize and other writing techniques to form a special style with profound themes. In addition, the narrative of The Scarlet Letter is developed from the perspective of an omniscient narrator who does not want to take responsibility for the narrative. The author adopts this omniscient narrative because he does not want the reader to read between the lines of his sympathy for the adulterous Hester Prynne, deliberately keeping himself at a certain emotional distance from the main character, avoiding telling the story in the first person, and deliberately hiding himself behind the "we", as in ... When our story begins ..... This "we" is only a formal omniscient narrator, one who is neither a party to the novel nor does he or she have to state his or her position in the novel. However, when we read through the novel, we can easily find that the author, in many cases, uses the perspective of the characters in the work to express his own emotional attitudes. Finally, one of the most important features of "The Scarlet Letter" is the use of irony, as the subject matter itself is strongly satirical. The Puritans, with their hypocritical banners, put the red "A" on Hester Prynne's chest, a symbol of debauchery and sin, while both the author and the reader sympathize with the hero and heroine, Hester Prynne and Dimmesdale, who suffer for their pure and sincere love, which is a great irony to the Puritans, who are the "paragons of holiness". This is a great irony for the Puritans, who were "paragons of holiness", and shows us that it is the cannibalism that subverts the original sin.

Hawthorne is known for his expertise in exploring the complexities of the human psyche, and he has stated that the purpose of his writing is to reflect the truth of the heart. When reading The Scarlet Letter, we cannot simply define which is the good guy or the bad guy, but through the analysis of the characters' psychology, we can see the author's thinking. The Scarlet Letter reflects Hawthorne's theme, "Man's guilt for having a sinful soul, a guilt that torments the human spirit and poisons the human life."

In The Scarlet Letter, the gloomy atmosphere from religious pressure lingers throughout, so heavy that one cannot ignore it for a moment, precisely because of Hawthorne's affirmation of the good and fraternal side of Puritanism, as well as his dissatisfaction and questioning of its ethical and moral suppression of human nature.

Hawthorne believes that "it is human nature, unless self-interest is at stake, to love more easily than to hate", and that the darker the road, the closer the dawn. The little red letter "A" seems to shine brightly enough to light the way.

Such an excellent and great work deserves to be read and revisited again and again. Hawthorne's solemn tone, magnificent language and various symbols and imagery express not only his thoughts on religion, human nature and history, but also a masterpiece written in a literary way, with his perspective and values. The Scarlet Letter shows not only the sin, but also the blood-red proof that exists in each of our hearts, proving the human emotions, entanglements and struggles in the universal sense.

2023-01-17

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