Abstract

The Scarlet Letter is the masterpiece of Hawthorne. The leading characters are deeply rooted in people’s mind, while the analysis of spectators is of great importance. This thesis focuses on analyzing spectators’ psychology and Hester’s characteristics, which in order to expose the dehumanizing living conditions under the control of religion. Make Hester’s kindness and humanity stand out by analyzing the inhospitality and ignorance of spectators. In the meanwhile, Hester’ moral vacillation, Dimmesdale’s moral rebirth and Pearl’s moral purification to vacillate the religion barrier, which also bring hope for people in that ages. Analyzing from this aspect is beneficial for readers to grasp the theme of this novel and improve their literature appreciation.

Key words: Spectators’ psychology; morality; humanity

Contents

Abstract

摘  要

1. Introduction-1

1.1 Hawthorne and The Scarlet Letter-1

1.2 Literature review-1

1.3 Thesis structure-2

2. Spectators' psychology-2

2.1 Collective spectators——apathy, ignorance-2

2.2 Male spectators——male chauvinism, defeminnization-3

2.3 Female spectators——inhospitality, darkness of inner world-3

2.4 Children spectators——ignorance, hereditability-4

3. The causes of spectators’ psychology-5

3.1 Religion backgrounds-5

3.2 Humanity weaknesses-5

4.　Hester’s characteristics and spectators' psychology-6

4.1 The honesty-6

4.2 The religion introspectiveness and pureness-6

4.3 Tolerance of spectators’ inhospitality by self-kindness-6

5. Morality impacts on the spectators' psychology-7

5.1 Hester’s moral vacillation-7

5.2 Dimmesdale’s moral rebirth-8

5.3 Pearl ' s moral purification-8

6. Conclusion-9

Bibliography-9