1、1An Analysis of the Causes for Dimmesdales Character in the Scarlet Letter【摘 要】每一部文学作品都是现实社会的一面镜子，反映了现实社会的背景和作者对社会的认识。美国著名小说家纳撒尼尔?霍桑的代表作红字是美国浪漫主义文学时期的经典之作。作者细腻而深刻的语言，作品中丰富而复杂的人物形象与心理描写使该作品充满魅力，至今人们还从不同的角度讨论和评价着红字 。 红字讲的是两百多年前，北美洲殖民地深受清教政权的严酷统治，女主人公海丝特?白兰因与神职人员亚瑟?丁梅斯代尔相爱并生下了女儿珠儿而被判通奸罪，并处以终身佩戴象征羞辱的红色
2、A 字的刑罚。而丁梅斯代尔却由于内心的懦弱，不敢向世人袒露真实的自己，逃避责任，走向了虚伪。亚瑟?丁梅斯代尔是纳撒尼尔?霍桑笔下最为丰满的一个人物形象。他有着神圣的外表与虚伪的内心；他有着献身宗教的理想与渴求爱情的梦想；这些形成了鲜明的对比。真实与虚伪的激烈碰撞使得丁梅斯代尔的灵魂与肉体都饱受煎熬。一直以来，他的内心深受清教教义的束缚。他所受的教育与社会的大环境都在逼迫着他压抑自己的情感，用内心虚伪的一面逃避着本该由他勇敢承担的责任。 【关键词】红字 纳撒尼尔?霍桑 亚瑟?丁梅斯代尔 性格剖析 宗教束缚 虚伪的内心 【中图分类号】I106.4 【文献标识码】A 【文章编号】216744810（
3、2013）05007802 I Introduction The Scarlet Letter，with every character portrayed in a distinguished way by Nathaniel Hawthorne，became one of the most excellent literature works in the 19th century in America and since its publication in 1850，it has received a wide range of consideration from many read
4、ers and critics all around the world. The novel was written in the background of colony times of America over 200 years ago. It is a tale of adultery that narrates a love tragedy in the colony of New England and it revealed the cruelty of social code，deception of religion and pretence of morality du
5、ring the development of capitalism in American. Hester Prynne，Arthur Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth，the three main characters in the novel，give readers deep impressions，among which Dimmesdale is the one whose personality was most abundant and complicated. His inner world conflicted with his appe
6、arance; his belief conflicted with his behavior. The religious doctrine that Dimmesdale preached could not integrate with his real life; he always twisted in contradictions. Therefore，in my opinion，it is the most valuable to analyze Dimmesdales mental characteristics and its causes. 3II General desc
7、ription of Dimmesdales character Author Dimmesdale was a good Puritan clergyman，but he fell in love with Hester Pyrnne and lived in a contradictory life since the moment when he met her. As a common person，Dimmesdale had all the feelings that other young people had. “He was a person of very striking
8、 aspect，with a white，lofty， and impendending brow，large，brown，melancholy eyes，and mouth which，unless when he forcibly compressed it，was apt to be tremulous，expressing both nervous sensibility and a vast power of selfrestraint.”It was obviously that Dimmesdale was an emotional，hypocritical and coward
9、ly person who had many antitheses. Dimmesdale suffered greatly from his regret of the guilt of adultery. He loved Hester Prynne; but as a clergyman，he also wanted to be honest to his belief. When standing on the pulpit，he made wonderful speech to encourage people; however，he didnt dare to tell the t
10、ruth; he didnt dare to express the real personality of himself; he even didnt dare to face the real himself. When staying in his room，Dimmesdale endured his inner torment. Just as the words in The Scarlet Letter:“No man，for any considerable period，can wear one face to himself and another to the mult
11、itude without finally getting bewildered as to which 4may be the true.” III The causes for the formation of Dimmesdales character The whole colony of North America was fulfilled with stifling atmosphere over two hundred years ago when the government was united with the religion，ruling the whole regi
12、on with the strong power of religion. We all knew that it was the Puritans and the native Indians who set up colonies and then governed colonies with the Puritan doctrines and made the religious doctrines and laws greatly developed to an extent of much more cruel than ever before. 1General introduct
13、ion of Puritanism and shackles of religion inside Dimmesdale Puritanism，which originated from Britain and developed in the colony of NorthAmerica，aimed at eliminating the rest reformer of Catholicism in Anglicanism and its doctrine was affected by Calvinists. Puritans took Bible as their only belief
14、 and stubbornly believed in the theory of original sin and salvation，and they completely prohibited aspiration and highly praised scared ideal. Gradually，Puritans had become more and more callous and even brutal and had made great impact on Americas politics，economy and culture and even peoples mind
15、 with its rule. In the Scarlet Letter，Nathaniel Hawthorne 5wrote， “and its present state of development，not to the impulses of youth， but to the stern and tempered energies of manhood and the sombre sagacity of age; accomplishing so much，precisely because it imagined and hoped so little”. you can se
16、e how seiously the peoples mind be fettered and how cruel the Puritanism was. 2Dimmesdales education status and the social environment Although there were not many details about Dimmesdales education status in the novel，a few words written by Hawthorne still told the readers something about that， “M
17、r. Dimmesdalea young clergyman，who had come from one of the great English universities，bringing all the learning of the age into our wild forestland. His eloquence and religious fervor had already given the earnest of high eminence in his profession”. From these words and Dimmesdales behavior，we can
18、 also feel that there must have been some closed relationship connected his life and education status with Religion. As a good Puritan clergyman，the education Dimmesdale had received and his experience guided him how to win the reputation which seemed resplendent but actually utterly worthless. No o
19、ne told him what the real life was and what the 6real happiness was. At that time，because Puritanism was popularized in the colony he lived，his love for God and his enthusiasm for Puritanism made him success in his career. 3Nathaniel Hawthornes living background and experiences After reading the Sca
20、rlet Letter，the author found that despite the reasons stated in the novel for the shape of Arthur Dimmesdales personality，there also existed quite some other reasons why Nathaniel Hawthorne portrayed Arthur Dimmesdale as a hypocritical，selfish and timid man who was double tortured by his belief and
21、conscience. Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in a prominent Puritan family and his family members were all Puritans. Nathaniel Hawthorne lived in a period of time when the capitalism developed fast and the culture flourished. In fact，Hawthornes unexcited life and experiences became the great sources for
22、 his writing. On one hand，Hawthorne dissatisfied with moral degradation and hypocritical phenomenon in American，so he sharply criticized these and Puritanism in his works; on the other hand，since his mind was greatly affected by Puritanism，he could not extricate himself from the religious bondage. T
23、herefore，Hawthornes attitude toward the Puritanism was ambiguous. This can be verified in the Scarlet Letter. Arthur Dimmesdale was a character that Hawthorne 7expressed his contrast. For one thing， Hawthorne described Dimmesdale as a man who can use beautiful words to express his love and joy with
24、Hester; for another，Hawthorne made Dimmesdale live in torment for his belief in religion. It can be concluded that Dimmesdales anxiety and contrast were the right one existed in Hawthornes mind. Conclusion The Scarlet Letter is the authors favorite works in American literature and Arthur Dimmesdale
25、is the character who impresses me. When the author read the story for the first time，the author was annoyed with Dimmesdale because when he faced the public， especially Hester，his words expressed hypocrisy and timidity；he wanted to love but dared not to love; he wanted to admit his guilt but dared n
26、ot to admit. When the author read the story for the second time，the author sympathized Dimmesdale because of his contrast and torment. Hawthorne described all of these incisively and vividly. Sometimes，Dimmesdale was sincere and moving，but sometimes he became hypocritical and annoying. In my opinion
27、，the root causes for Dimmesdales tragedy were Puritanism. Dimmesdale was fettered by Puritanism in his growth and education while Hawthorne was also deeply fettered by Puritanism. They two and 8Hester resisted Puritanism but could not extricate from it. Just because of this， there created a charming characterArthur Dimmesdale. 参考文献 1Nathaniel Hawthorne， “The Scarlet Letter”，Wordsworth Classic，1992：48、49、161 2姚乃强译.红字译本M.北京：中国书籍出版社，2005 3驾广贤注释.红字英文原版评注本M.北京：世界图书出版公司，2010 4克劳迪娅?德斯特?约翰逊.红字解读M.北京：中国人民大学出版社，2008 5乔艳.红字主人公丁梅斯代尔形象解读J.重庆科技学院学报，2010（3） 6魏江华.虚伪的面孔 脆弱的心灵简析霍桑小说红字中的丁梅斯代尔J.惠州学院学报，2003（2）
