Purpose and Significance of the Study

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) is considered to be a renowned 19^th-century American novelist and one of the founders of American romantic novels, in whose lifetime overwhelming masterpieces were created such as Fanshawe (1828), The Minister#8217;s Black Veil (1837), Mosses from an Old Manse (1846) and so on. Hawthorne is adept at applying symbolism and psychoanalysis to describe a character and The Scarlet letter is the most representative work of this kind of writing style.

The Scarlet letter, the magnum opus of Hawthorne, is the first symbolic novel in the history of American literature and a tragedy of love that happens in North American colonial period. The theme of the story should be the moral, emotional and psychological effects of the sin on people. As Carpenter (1944) puts it, ”Hester is the greatest part in The Scarlet Letter”. Besides, Hawthorne#8217;s feminist consciousness was expressed in the depiction of Hester.

Feminism generally refers to women who are independent and have rebellious spirit. On the basis of it, feminist criticism formed with the development of feminism in Western countries, which can be divided into three stages: rejection of patriarchal gender (1900s-1920s), studying of the female literary history (1960s-1970s) and construction of the feminist critic theory (1980s-1990s).That is to say, women gradually have a realization of equality between males and females in that period.

The development of feminist consciousness in Hester#8217;s inner world is an important clue of this story. After reading the story, feminist consciousness can be found everywhere and the inevitability of the merry ending can be easily figured out. In this way, we can totally understand the theme of the novel and appreciate the feminism in it.

Literature Review

It is known to us that The Scarlet Letter is the magnum opus of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Its aim is to advocate a moral code whose core is the view of humanity and morality. Through the ages, critics interpret The Scarlet Letter from various perspectives, such as its multiple themes(moral,marriage,maternal love,religion), writing techniques(symbolism, contrast, psychological description) and the theories it refers to(feminist criticism, structuralism, psychoanalyis) and so on. All of them can show readers the contradictory mentality of Hawthorne.

In western countries, The Scarlet Letter has received attention of the literary circle for more than one hundred years due to its psychoanalysis, symbolism and profound conflict of the view of morality. Harold Bloom considers that The Scarlet Letter is an excellent masterpiece and it is the first local novel written by an American person. Western scholars usually apply a certain literary criticism to study The Scarlet Letter and then explore a character#8217;s personality as well as the reason for his or her behaviors. However, domestic research on The Scarlet Letter usually presents in the way of theses and less in treatises. At present, only two treatises(Hawthorne and the Romance and Nathaniel Hawthorne and his modernity:Humanity, nature, and home of the soul) systematically analyze The Scarlet letter and its underlying narrative structure and techniques of expression. Compared with western countries, domestic research is more complete and unique in the aspect of comparative study. In the early period, domestic research on The Scarlet Letter concentrates on interpreting diverse images to analyze the view of humanity and morality. As time goes on, research direction transfers from images to theories, stylistic features, narrative strategies, comparative study and so on.

1.1 Western studies of feminist interpretation of Hester

It is attested by the fact that foreign scholars study the feminist consciousness of Hester earlier than that in China. The reason is that in the twentieth century, women#8217;s liberation movement in western countries is much more violent than any other revolutions in history, which has a great influence on the development of human society. In some sense, we can understand that the feminist consciousness of Hester and women#8217;s liberation movement are inseparable. It is no doubt that the feminist consciousness of Hester is the foundation of the later women#8217;s liberation movement. However, people#8217;s views on Hester vary from person to person. The majority of scholars are for the feminist consciousness of Hester. Just as Nina (2000) describes, "In portraying the figure of Hester, Hawthorne creates the first real female protagonist as well as one of unforgettable heroines in American novel". The feminist consciousness of Hester greatly affects the thought of people and makes them think deeply of their own lives. Carpenter (1944) argues that Hester is the greatest part in The Scarlet Letter. The feminist consciousness is thoroughly reflected by Hester#8217;s independence, tenacity and rebellion. However, some scholars take another attitude towards it. As Leslie A(1960) puts it, it is notorious that The Scarlet Letter is a seduction story without a seduction, a parable of the fall with the fall offstage and before the action proper begins. It is apparent that he opposes to Hester#8217;s behavior because he argues that the so-called feminist consciousness of Hester is a degenerate behavior.