论《小伙子布朗》中的象征主义
关键词：霍桑；象征；罪恶
Abstract
Nathaniel Hawthorne, an outstanding romantic writer of novels and short stories in the 19th century in America, has been regarded as the master of symbolism. The creative thinking in all his works is digging the “evil” hidden in human soul and yearning for the basis “good” which constitute the truth and beauty. Young Goodman Brown is one of typical Hawthorne’s symbolic short stories, so the novel’s content is allegorical and symbolic. And the symbolism means that the characters and events are to be understood by representing other things and symbolically expressing a deeper spiritual and moral meaning. The aim of this thesis is to get a clear picture of symbolism and symbolic meaning in the story through deeply reading the story and finding related materials by analyzing the symbolism in theme, the symbolic meaning of all the characters and colors.
Key words: Nathaniel Hawthorne; symbolism; evil
On Symbolism in Young Goodman Brown
Contents
摘 要 i
Abstract ii
I. Introduction 1
II. Symbolism in the Theme 2
2.1 Young Goodman Brown’s Theme 3
2.2 The Symbolic Meaning of Its Theme 3
III. Symbolism in Characters 5
3.1 The Symbolic Meaning of Brown 5
3.2 The Symbolic Meaning of Faith 6
3.3 The Symbolic Meaning of the Fellow- traveler 6
IV. Symbolism in Colors 7
4.1 The Symbolic Meaning of Pink 8
4.2 The Symbolic Meaning of Black 8
4.3 The Symbolic Meaning of Red 11
V. Conclusion 12
Bibliography 14
Acknowledgments 15
I. Introduction
Nathaniel Hawthorne is an outstanding romantic novelist in American in the 19th century, and he is a central figure in the American Renaissance. All his life, Hawthorne seems to be haunted by his sense of sin and evil in life due to his awareness of the misdeed of his Puritan ancestors. His novels are penetrating the exploration of moral and spiritual conflicts and reveal that it’s evident that evil exists in the human heart. Although Hawthorne is ambiguous and his tales are often capable of more than one interpretation, he is certainly at his best when writing about evil. Most of his works deal with evil one way or another. “The blackness of vision which comes as a natural corollary has become his trade mark” (Chang 71). Hawthorne is also remarkable in literary skills, especially in symbolism. With the publication of The Scarlet Letter in 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne became famous as the greatest writer in the United States and was named the master of symbolism. Young Goodman Brown is one of typical Hawthorne’s symbolic short stories. In the story, Hawthorne uses symbolism to describe a young man who was reluctant to leave his world of innocence. However, this young man soon discovered that evil is indeed very widespread and existent in his world. Brown was tormented morally and psychologically. In April 1834, Young Goodman Brown was first published in the New England Journal, and then collected in Moss on the Old House. It has attracted many comments and criticisms. Miller commended that “Even though a child can easily know the story, but I think what Hawthorne wants to thee us is as deep as Dante” (119). Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown is allegorical, which means that the characters and events are to be understood as representing other things and symbolically expressing a deeper spiritual, moral, or political meaning. In Brown’s world, evil is symbolically represented throughout the story.
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