森林中的和谐 ——论霍桑《红字》中的森林意象

论文摘要

作为霍桑的心理传奇代表作，《红字》以十七世纪的新英格兰为背景，通过真实的场景和现实的清教哲学，成功地描述了清教的残酷和它对人性的扼杀。然而霍桑的目的似乎并非仅仅是为了暴露当时清教的严酷状态，而是试图在为人性的解放探索出一条新的途径以便给生活在令人窒息的清教氛围中的人们送去一股新鲜空气。霍桑试图想展示给人们的是一种理想的和谐，这种和谐正是霍桑和他的同时代人甚至我们现代人都一直在寻找的，在这种和谐下人性才能得到充分的发展。这种和谐在当时的现实社会中存在的希望很渺茫，这一点已经被霍桑和他同时代人所进行实验的共同失败所证实，然而这种和谐在荒野的森林中却近乎完美地存在着。但是，霍桑在森林中深埋的这种内涵却一直被评论家所忽略正如笔者最近的一次调查所显示的那样。调查的结果表明大多数评论家都是从纯文学的角度，将他们的注意力集中在小说隐含的主题及其绝妙的文体以及各种意象和人物分析上，很少有人将注意力集中在作者对社会改革的思考上。本文从清教的发展出发，依托作者创作时的历史背景，从超验主义的角度，通过对“森林”这一意象的剖析，诠释出了被以往的评论家所忽略的作者想展示给我们的那种理想的和谐：一，森林呈现了原始生命的和谐；二，森林呈现了表里如一的和谐；三，森林呈现了身心发展的和谐；四，森林呈现了上帝，人和自然之间的和谐；五，森林呈现了乌托邦自由的和谐。

论文目录

• Acknowledgements
• Abstract （English Version）
• 中文摘要（Chinese Version）
• Chapter One Introduction
• Chapter Two Forest—the Harmony of the Primitive Life
• Ⅰ. The invitation of the harmony of the primitive life in the wild
• Ⅱ. The inharmoniousness of the rigid Puritan atmosphere with human nature
• Ⅲ. People compelled to the wild for the harmony of human nature
• Ⅳ. Pearl—the fruit of the harmony of pure human nature
• Chapter Three Forest—the Harmony of the Outside and Inside
• Ⅰ. Hester's natural beauty restored in the forest
• Ⅱ. Hester's dignity as a woman restored in the forest
• Ⅲ. Dimmesdale's cowardice in nature restored in the forest
• Ⅳ.The real identity of the disguised characters restored in the forest
• Chapter Four Forest—the Harmony of Maturation in BothPhysicality and Mind
• Ⅰ. The free space in the forest for Hester to speculate and maturate in mind
• Ⅱ. The free space in the forest for Dimmesdale to see through the essenceof Puritan redemption
• Ⅲ. Dimmesdale's mind enlightened in the forest on the verge of his death
• Chapter Five Forest—the harmony of God, Man and Nature
• Ⅰ. The inharmonious relation between God and Man in the Puritan society
• Ⅱ. The harmonious relation between God and Man in the forest
• Ⅲ. Nature—the concrete appearance of God
• Chapter Six Forest—the harmony of Utopian freedom
• Ⅰ. Forest—the symbol of Utopian freedom at the very beginning
• Ⅱ. Forest—the harmony of Utopian freedom in the eyes ofthe transcendentalists
• Ⅲ. Forest—an ideal Utopian society under Hawthorne's pen
• Ⅳ. Forest—the proper place for the reformers to carryout their Utopian ideas
• Chapter Seven Conclusion
• Works Consulted
• Academic Papers Published