教育英美文学欣赏资料 红字thescarletl.ppt

THE SCARLET LETTER 19th century American Romanticism Hawthornes novel -----Nathaniel Hawthorne NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE Novelist and short story writer, a central figure in the American Renaissance. Nathaniel Hawthornes best-known works include The Scarlet Letter (1850) and The House of the Seven Gables (1851). Like Edgar Allan Poe, Hawthorne took a dark view of human nature. NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE “ No man for any considerable period can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.”( from The Scarlet Letter, Chapter XX The 楍楮瑳牥椠??慍敺 ) STORY SYNOPSIS . The Scarlet Letter told a story of a puritan woman Hester Prynne who was punished to wear a scarlet A which stood for the crime of adultery. The pretty young lady tried to settle down in Boston with her old and ugly husband Chillingworth, a scholar. But the latter did not appear for years. During this time, Hester committed adultery with a local Minster Dimmesdale, and gave birth to a girl Pearl. Facing the terrible punishment, Hester refused to give her lovers name away to protect him. STORY SYNOPSIS Years later, the husband Chillingworth came to the town and found out the whole truth, and he operated an horror revenge on Dimmesdale, with hiding his own true name. Yet, as the story going, Hester and Dimmesdale became sympathetic figures, while Chillingworth was a devil at last. BOOK REVIEW AND SUMMARY The Scarlet Letter represents the height of Hawthornes literary genius .It remains relevant for its philosophical and psychological depth, and continues to be read as a classic tale on a universal theme . Thanks for your listening