Abstract

The Puritans’ way of life and set of beliefs were called the Puritanism. The literary works of this period who’s most setting was 16th century or later on can be the best elaboration of this kind of religion. In the sky of the great masterpieces which describe the life of Puritans, The Scarlet Letter is almost the brightest star of all. The author of this novel is Nathaniel Hawthorne, who always enjoyed a world class praises since the novel was written. This novel was a product of under the influence of Puritanism. It sets in Boston during the life in 17th century. Thanks to the Puritanism, the whole story can be attractive. As we all know, the literature is always the mirror of real life. Since the close relationship between the novel and the Puritanism, it’s inevitable to study one of them. In this paper, I explored the Puritanism reflects on The Scarlet Letter from following aspects: The origin and development of the Puritanism in America, the belief of the Puritanism, Puritanism in Nathaniel Hawthorn’s writing, Puritanism reflected by the characters, the words of the protagonists and the scenes in this novel. The author of this paper would analyze this topic from above aspects by reading this novel and raising her own understanding of the Puritanism in this novel in order to have a better understanding of the novel and Puritanism.

Key words : Hawthorne；Puritanism；The Scarlet Letter

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1 Introduction-1

2 Literature Review-3

3 The Puritanism-6

3.1 The Origin and Development of the Puritanism in America-6

3.2 Beliefs of the Puritanism-7

3.3 Puritanism in Hawthorne’s Writing-9

4 Puritanism Reflected by The Scarlet Letter-11

4.1 Puritanism Reflected by the Characters-11

4. 2 Puritanism Reflected by the Characters’ Words-16

4.2.1 Dimmesdale-16

4.2.2 Roger Chillingworth-18

4.3 Puritanism Reflected the Scenes-20

5 Conclusion-24

Bibliography-26

Acknowledgments-27