Red Letters - The Stairway to the English Free Realm - (5000-word Bedside English Learning Reader) (English-Chinese Contrastive) (12)

Author: Original author (USA) Nathaniel Hawthorne
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2007-01-01
Features: The Scarlet Letter is a long novel by the 19th-century American Romantic writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. Written in 1851, the novel depicts the protagonist Hester Prynne and her husband who move from England to Boston, then still a British colony in America. En route, her husband is captured by Native Americans. After arriving in America alone, Hester is forced into poverty and becomes pregnant after being seduced by a young minister. This act is deemed scandalous by the hypocritical Puritan society of the time. Authorities arrest Hester, throw her in prison, parade her through the streets, and force her to wear a red A (Adultery: Adulteress) as a symbol of shame for life, as well as stand on a scaffold for trial. The governor personally oversees Hester's trial, and her church minister, Arthur Dimmesdale—a man publicly regarded as a high moral who seduced Hester—hypocritically pressures her to reveal the name of her lover. However, Hester chooses to endure the humiliation alone and refuses to confess. In isolation from society, enduring countless indignities, Hester lives a solitary yet resilient life, earning a living through needlework. Her only pillar in life is raising her daughter, Pearl, whom she treats as a precious jewel. Hester's spirit of bearing humiliation, taking the blame for others, and unwavering resilience deeply moves and torments Dimmesdale, eventually leading to his collapse in health. Meanwhile, Hester's husband, Roger Chillingworth, who returns after being freed and has been secretly investigating the truth, learns the truth while treating Dimmesdale and seeks to destroy him. To escape, Hester and Dimmesdale plan to take Pearl and flee to a place "where no white man's foot has trod" on the day the new mayor takes office. However, Chillingworth discovers their plan, and their escape fails. Consequently, on the day the new mayor takes office, Dimmesdale, along with Hester and Pearl, ascends the scaffold, confesses his seduction of Hester, and dies in Hester's arms. From then on, Hester is freed and takes Pearl to live elsewhere. Years later, Pearl grows up, establishes herself, while Hester returns to Boston alone, still bearing the red A. Through her "noble morality and spirit of helping others," she transforms the scarlet letter into a symbol of virtue and glory until her death. The novel is set in the colonial America of over two hundred years ago, but it exposes the cruelty of the legal codes, the deception of religion, and the hypocrisy of morality in 19th-century American capitalist society. The protagonist, Hester, is portrayed as an embodiment of noble morality. She not only moves Dimmesdale, who is two-faced, but also influences a society filled with sin. As for her husband, Chillingworth, the novel depicts him as a shadowy figure obsessed with uncovering secrets and revenge, serving only as a plot device. The novel frequently employs symbolism, with its characters, plot, and language rich in subjective imagination. It often prioritizes psychological and intuitive portrayals. Thus, it is not only a masterpiece of American Romanticism but also considered the pioneer of American psychological fiction. The Scarlet Letter is a representative work of the American Romantic writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. It depicts the married woman Hester Prynne being seduced by a young minister, Dimmesdale, and becoming pregnant. In isolation from society, enduring humiliation, Hester lives a solitary yet resilient life, with her only support being her daughter, Pearl. Her spirit of bearing humiliation, taking the blame for others, and unwavering resilience once moves Dimmesdale. Her husband suddenly returns and relentlessly seeks to uncover the identity of the seducer to exact revenge. In the end, tormented by guilt, Dimmesdale confesses his seduction of Hester on the day he takes office as the new mayor and dies in Hester's arms. The novel exposes the cruelty of the legal codes, the deception of religion, and the hypocrisy of morality in 19th-century American capitalist society. It is not only a masterpiece of American Romanticism but also considered the pioneer of American psychological fiction.