Abstract:The Scarlet Letter is a classic novel written by an American novelist, and romanticist, Nathaniel Hawthorne, who is honored to be the founder father of psychoanalytic novels in the history of American literature. Hawthorne’s works mainly take place in New England, and many of his writing themes are related with inherent evilness and sin within each inpidual. The story of The Scarlet Letter also proceeds in this kind of setting. The main purpose of the research is to analyze the character Pearl in the novel from the perspectives of ambiguity and symbolism to further provide a new interpretation of the character, the story, the theme, and the implications within the story. Also, the research is well-related to the historical background which provides readers with a truth of the life at that period of time. By discovering and discussing the character Pearl in the novel with the analysis of her behaviors, words, and also her possible psychological activities from the perspectives of ambiguity and symbolism, a more vivid figure can be presented.

Key words: Pearl; The Scarlet Letter; symbolism; ambiguity

《红字》中珠儿的人物形象分析

摘  要:《红字》是美国著名作家纳撒尼尔·霍桑的代表作。霍桑作品里的故事主要发生在新英格兰，且他的许多作品的主题都与每一个人内在的邪恶和罪恶相关。本研究的主要目的是从含混性和象征性的角度分析小说《红字》中珠儿的人物形象，并为小说中人物的性格、故事以及隐含的意义提供新的解释。同时，本研究与当时的历史背景密切相关，结合当时生活的真实情况具体分析。从含混性和象征性的角度，通过对珠儿的行为、话语以及可能的心理活动的分析，对小说中人物珠儿形象进行探讨，可以呈现出一个更加生动的人物形象。

关键词：珠儿；《红字》；象征主义；含混

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. About the Symbolism 3

2.1 Symbolism as a Whole 3

2.2 Symbolism in the Novel at First Glance 3

3. About the Ambiguity 4

3.1 Ambiguity as a Whole 4

3.2 Ambiguity in the Novel at First Glance 4

4. Various Symbols of Pearl 6

4.1 Sin 6

4.2 Defiance 7

4.3 Liveliness 8

4.4 Purity 9

5. The Ambiguity on Pearl 10

5.1 Young & Precocious 10

5.2 Evil & Pure 11

5.3 Rebel & Tamed 11

6. Conclusion 13

References 14

1. Introduction

The Scarlet Letter, is a classic novel written by an American novelist, and romanticist, Nathaniel Hawthorne, who is honored to be the founder father of psychoanalytic novels in the history of American literature.

Hawthorne’s works mainly take place in New England, and many of his writing themes are related with inherent evilness and sin within each inpidual. He depicts his story with the ingenious use of writing devices to present the gloomy psychology and convey the complex moral issues. The story of The Scarlet Letter also proceeds in this kind of setting.

As we all known, Hawthorne specialized in the depiction of the characters’ inner psychology and many scholars or critics have been devoted to the psychoanalytic study of this novel. Yet, we also know that Hawthorne is a great writer who applies well the devices of ambiguity and symbolism to imply his true thoughts and spirits. As a masterpiece, The Scarlet Letter also contains a great of ambiguity and symbolism.

Pearl is one of the main characters in The Scarlet Letter. She fairly plays an important role in the novel. The author describes her as an elf-like child who can see through many secrets. Many researchers have been working on the analysis of the four main characters in the novel; yet there are limited researches which focus on the analysis of the child Pearl. Though the former researches are limited, we can still find that several previous researchers respectively define Pearl as a rebel against the traditional religion and morality, a symbol of Hester’s sin, a gift from the nature that is harmonious with the mother nature, a role against the dark and gray tint of the contemporary New England society, an ideal human image, or a helper who helps the main characters to find their right ways. Wang notices that “both character and type, both nature and premature, Pearl is in time and outside of the truth” and that “the different perspectives from which they are seen by different critics or readers make the characters more symbolic” (2017:377). Darrel Abel also declares that “her apparently capricious disposition could be regularized into moral life only when her parents conformed to moral principles themselves” (1951: 62). At the same time, he expresses that “although Pearl thus enjoyed an unusually rich life in Nature, the point of crucial if obvious importance in interpreting her character is that Hawthorne represents the Child of Nature as being infrahuman” (1951:57).