Abstract：The purpose of this paper is that through the analysis of the heroine Hester Prynne in Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter, the author explores in depth of the evil in human soul and reveals the author’s reflections on human nature, longing for the good. As one of the Renaissance writers on behalf of the United States, Hawthorne is impacted by three ideas: Puritan sense of transcendental philosophy and mysticism. The Scarlet Letter as Hawthorne's masterpiece is undoubtedly the pinnacle of their creative works. The book discusses about the problem of crime and atonement, and its enduring charm is that it is not only relentless lashing of the Puritan laws and regulations of the trampling of human nature and, more important, it is the author’s affirmation of Characterization to Hester Prynne, full of hope for humanity. This paper made a focus analysis on four aspects of Hester ：heroine individual charismatic personality，promoting the concept of Puritanism (Love for Latter-day Saints), and then to the final of its own ideas of individualism and liberation and the awakening of the hearts of the hope，the expression of the author's praising for the loyalty of love and the colonial forces during the religious condemnation, and excavation depth of the author is full of noble sentiments of the humanitarian spirit and the longing for Original Goodness of Human Nature. In the course of shaping Hester Prynne, The Scarlet Letter makes extensive use of symbolism art practices, through the delicate psychological description of characters and fantastic situations descriptions, the novel brings out the profound subject --- hope to form the novel's unique style of Romanticism.

Key Words: Hawthorne; Hester; the scarlet letter ‘A’; characterization

中文摘要:本文旨在通过分析霍桑的小说《红字》中的女主人公---海丝特白兰，深入探讨作者对人类心灵罪恶的深度思考并揭示作者对人性的希望，对于善的向往。作为美国文艺复兴时期的代表作家，霍桑深受清教意识、超验哲学和神秘主义三种思想的影响。《红字》作为霍桑的代表作，无疑是其创作的巅峰作品。书中讨论了关于罪与赎罪的问题，其不朽的魅力在于它不仅无情的鞭挞了清教法规对人性的践踏,更重要的是作者对女主人公---海丝特白兰性格中善的肯定，对人性充满希望。本文通过描写女主人公的个人性格魅力，宣扬清教观念（爱的圣徒），再到最后它自身个人主义思想观念的觉醒与解放以及心中存有的希望这四个方面对女主角---海丝特白兰的人物性格作了重点分析, 表达了作者对忠贞爱情的赞美，对殖民地时期宗教势力的谴责，并深入挖掘了作者对充满崇高情操的人道主义精神和人性善的向往。在塑造女主人公---海丝特白兰的过程中， 《红字》一书大量运用象征主义艺术手法，通过细腻的人物心理描写和梦幻般的情境描写，衬托出小说深邃的主题---希望，从而形成了该小说独特的浪漫主义风格。　

关键词：霍桑；海斯特； 红字；人物性格