海丝特与卡米拉爱情观的对比分析英语专业毕业论文.doc

海丝特与卡米拉爱情观的对比分析Abstract: Hawthorne was a 19th century American novelist and short story writer. The Scarlet Letter is his masterpiece, which reflects how the Puritanism devastates the human spirits and peoples longing for happiness. From the feminist point of view, The Scarlet Letter is also a novel about a rebellious woman, Hester. It creatively deduces that the heroine is fighting against the patriarchal oppression on her. The woman image that advocates feminism and seeks the romantic love is outstanding especially in Puritan society. Even though she is strong, brave, industrious, kindhearted, and with a lofty devoting spirit, her whole life is very tragic in the end. Camilla is now a “controversial” Princess in the English royal family, since she was Charless mistress for a long time before their marriage. Although Hester and Camilla are women in different eras, they have something in common. They have painful experiences of marriages without love. “Love is built on ideal soil, while marriage is on the basis of reality” (Xiong Wen, 82). Therefore, this paper mainly analyzes their attitudes towards love by comparison. There are similarities among their views of love. For example, both of them are rebellious women and eager to gain true love, struggling against the loveless marriages. The paper mostly demonstrates the differences from the aspects of different backgrounds, different characters, rebellious spirits, different views of love and results.Key Words: Hester; Camilla; love; comparison; feminist consciousness 摘要: 纳撒尼尔霍桑是19世纪美国的著名小说家和作家。长篇小说红字是霍桑的代表作。它充分反应了清教对人的精神摧残和人们无法克制的对幸福生活的追求。从女权主义的角度看，红字是一部有关反叛女性海丝特的小说。小说创造性地演绎了当时的父系社会对海丝特的压迫。海丝特崇尚女权主义、追求浪漫爱情的女性形象在清教社会中表现的尤为突出。她虽然坚强、勇敢、勤劳、善良，并具有崇高的自我献身精神，但最终却落得悲惨的结局。卡米拉是当今英国王室一位颇具争议的王妃，而在这之前，她一直都扮演着查尔斯王子情妇的角色。海丝特与卡米拉是不同时代的两个女性，但她们之间却有着本质的联系。她们都有着只有婚姻而没有爱情的痛苦经历。“爱情是建立在理想土壤上的，而婚姻是建立在现实基础上的”（熊文，82）。因此本论文主要从爱情观的角度对她们进行对比分析。海丝特与卡米拉的爱情观，同中有异，异中有同，都具有反叛和抗争，渴望得到真爱，都在无爱的婚姻中苦苦挣扎。论文将就她们的不同点：时代背景的不同，性格特征的不同，反叛方式，爱情观以及其结局的不同等方面对论文主题进行阐述。关键词: 海丝特；卡米拉；爱情；对比；女权主义意识 IntroductionThe Scarlet Letter represents the height of Hawthornes literary genius. The Puritan setting enables Hawthorne to portray the human soul under extreme pressures. Hester is the heroine of Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter. She makes the way to rebellion not only in her thought but also in her action. As a woman, she always wants to find consolation and enjoyment from her husband or lover. She admires and seeks for the ideal marriage. Hester is eager to gain brightness and freedom. But her heart is always full of contradiction and grief. The punishment of Puritanism and humiliation of the people make her merely crazy. It is a pity that Dimmesdales cowardice and Puritanisms restraint lead her life to a tragic ending. In a sense, as a woman suffering from spirit sorrow, she is still loyal to Dimmesdale. She is a good model for the women of new generation. From her, people can know about the intrinsic meaning of true love.Camilla, as a controversial Princess, lives in Modern English royal family. By comparison with Hester, she is also a rebellious woman to fight against the royal family and the public. Camilla is older than Charles and a divorced woman, which makes it difficult for them to marry. But the intense love between them has spanned decades. It is a tale that has reached almost Shakespearian heights of passion, misery and betrayal. Their marriage thrusts them back into the spotlight which examines how they are kept apart by the royal family. But when the marriage between Charles and Diana ends, Camilla is regarded as a villain by the press.Both Hester and Camilla are rebels, struggling against the loveless marriages. This paper mainly analyzes their views of love by comparison, from the aspects of their different backgrounds, characters, rebellious spirits, views of love and results. From their views of love, people can know the reasons to result in their different fates and results. Its easy to find that Hesters thought is full of religious mistrial atmosphere and fatalism. This kind of religious thought envelops her whole life. Camilla cannot give in English royal family and the public. Nothing can shake her beliefloves Charles very much.  I. The Different Backgrounds of Hester and CamillaDifferent backgrounds signify different fates, just like Hester and Camilla. Although their backgrounds are so different, the attitude to seek true love is the samebreaking through traditional concepts and secular prejudices and seeking their true love.A. The Influence of Puritanism upon Hesters Poor FateHester the heroine of Nathaniel Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter, who values private self, pursuing personal freedom, humanity dignity, individual rights and so on, gives a heavy punch upon puritan society. The letter “A” functions as her passport into religions where other women dare not tread. Hester has been portrayed as an intelligent and capable woman. It is the extraordinary circumstances shaping her that make her become such an important figure. She is the most controversial person. To a profound extent, she symbolizes a revolution. As a woman, she indulges herself, on behalf of human vulnerability and sadness. For the secular, she commits adultery, but as a devout puritan, she has also run counter to the religious rules. Pearl is just Hester in miniaturecraze, despair, emotional resistance and headstrong temperaments. She has been married, but she has never loved. When she and Dimmesdale make love, the organs of sense are wakening by love. She comes to realize the true meaning as a woman. Therefore, she is eager to seek her true love. Her rebellious attitude and courage for the world not only confess her indulgence, but also collect her love in her heart. Thus, human and religious contradictions become the focus. She is a devout puritan in essence, just because of great vitality, makes mistakes and has to suppress her desires. Dimmesdale and She dont play frivolous game, her crime is the result of humanitys extending, which doesnt mean abandoning religion, just because humanity and religious doctrine conflict.The novel exposes capitalist development, the brutal social codes, religious deceptions and moral hypocrisies in the nineteenth-century era. Hester is written in a high moral heroine in disguise. But English traditions and prejudices are engraved on their minds: weak in numbers, but strong in spirit. Puritans live unrealistic lives that are horrifyingly rigid and that lead those to act definitely on the outside of love. They advocate being faithful with their rather gloomy outlook of life. Although Hawthorne doesnt personally show the view of puritan life, the problem of sin is obvious in his works. The Scarlet Letter is an American classical literature, a psychological melodrama about the cruel and unusual punishment of original sin committed out of love. The novel suggests that American romanticism adapt to American Puritanism. The theme is that guilt or sin will be punished whether you face or hide it. It puts forward a question that whether Hester admits her sin or not, and her love is really sinful. The dominant concern in the novel is the moral, emotional, and psychological effect on the people in general and those implicate in it in particular. Puritanism is the ultimate reason that influences on Hesters whole life. American Puritanism stresses predestination, original sin, total depravity, and limits to gain atonements from Gods grace. It is based on the Biblical myth of the Garden of Eden. Hesters adultery is viewed as a threat to the Puritan community in which she lives. As is known to all, sin and knowledge are linked in the Judeo-Christian tradition. The Bible begins with the story of Adam and Eve who are expelled from the Garden of Eden for eating of the fruit of the trees of the garden and knowing good and evil. Adams degeneration makes people have original sins, but it also gains Gods grace. Gods grace has double standard, parallel justice and charity, and love with the law. That is why Puritans wants Hester to wear “A”. Namely, we shouldnt forget requirements of Gods justice while we gain Gods grace. Legal sanction is necessary, because Adams degeneration has already made rationality and emotion be parted. Thus it loses Gods integrity faith. It is difficult for novelist to identify some helpless relief. Hester and Dimmesdales story is like the story of Adam and Eves. After falling in love in an instant, there is the myth of human origin, and there is also evil. The experience of Hester and Dimmesdale recalls the story of Adam and Eve, because in both cases, sin results in expulsion and suffering. But it also results in knowledge, especially, in knowledge of what it means to be human. When Hawthorne chooses a potential human love to explore the “evil”, he has never let himself get rid of confusions and contradictions. As Adam said: “This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.” And to the woman he said: “Great will be your pain in childbirth; in sorrow will your children come to birth; still your desire will be for your husband, but he will be your master.” (Duan Qi, 1994, 55).This opinion affects womens status in society. Religion aggravates the inequalities between men and women, at the same time it supports mens great atrocities to women. It is precisely because of women subordinate status which has been designated that they suffer from the gender discrimination. Religious prejudice and secular moral punishment let them pay a heavy price. Whatever they are ancestral sins, moral sins or social sins, Hawthornes works all dig deeply into the dark sides of human nature The Scarlet Letter scrutinizes early American puritanical society which shows how rigid, suffocating and hypocritical it could be. Hester rebels against the Puritan ethic and longs for real life, with genuine wholesome values based on love, not on controlling. Namely, she is the opposite extreme of the puritans.B. Condemn From Royal Family and the Public towards CamillaCamilla Parker-Bowles is the second wife of Britain's Prince Charles. She is in modern society, but as a woman, she still doesnt completely control her life and her true love. She doesnt still get rid of the seculars prejudices and church pressures. Whats more, the royal family is arrogant. A couple being separated is seen as the modern version of Romeo and Juliet. In front of the royal family, history doesnt progress. However, what is it that makes a man love a woman so much? Believe it or not, it has little to do with sex, even though that is more than likely fantastic. It has to do with comfortable feeling together, making each other laugh and please, and sharing the same interests and hobbies. It has to do with complementing and consolation each other, each half making the other one whole, being soulmates. Great sex is a byproduct of such a relationship. After all, Charles loves Camilla very much. The hostility toward Charles and Camilla doesnt influence on their relationship.The public hate Camilla, which dont influence Camillas status in Charless heart. However, most people who have an opinion about the future king of Great Britain are very anti-Camilla. She seems to be blamed for the breakup of Charles and Dianas marriage. She is perceived to be a home wrecker. However, Charles later admits that he and Camilla has been romantically involved .After Diana died in 1997, Camilla becomes Charles's steady companion and partner, amid much public chatter about the propriety of their behaviors and Charles should become king.Meanwhile, in fact, the purposes of Charles marrying Diana have nothing to do with love. If love happened it was incidental. It has to do with an aging Prince being prodded by mother to marry so the monarchy would around for future generations. To be blunt what the future king of Britain needs is a virgin. And not to impugn the characters of English women, but hot looking and poised virgins from the upper crust families arent exactly in great supply. A virgin bride is the only way to ensure the royal genes are carried on to the next generation. There is also the obvious concern that the King or Queen wouldnt contract sexually transmitted diseases like syphilis, which is quite common through much of human history. Camilla fails to qualify in the virginity department. Charles has spent over 30 years dating her and has wanted to marry her, but she is off the list of royal marriage partners because she isnt a virgin. Apparently, there are concerns that her blood isnt blue enough. Charles could be a future King and marry a proper British virgin or could abdicate, marry the woman he loves. Camillas ordinary appearance and age dont seem appropriate for a romantic woman. She is distorted by the tabloids endlessly, so she has been casting into the limelight. The public are driven by their own dreams, and think that love should be that women have beautiful appearance, men should have handsome looks. The public allow that old men and young women have romantic love; the middle-aged men and ladies have romantic love, but look down upon the romantic love that men are younger than women. This describes the status inequality between men and women.Above all, it is known that Hester and Camilla experience the social unequal treatments. They are eager to break through the inequality and live a happy life. They are the good models for the women in new generations.II. Differences in Character between Hester and CamillaAs a whole, Hester and Camilla are both brave women with strong characteristics and self-esteems. From them, people know that women are eager to seek freedom and happy marriage, but the social pressures and patriarchy system detain their passive hearts. As women in different eras, they have something in commonperseverance and inner charming.A. Hesters Guilty FeelingsHester is a lovely and imaginative young girl when she is married. She needs being loved and accompanied, and longs for a rich and colorful life. But her husband never realizes her feeling and makes her entrap into solitude. So she falls in love with Dimmesdale, from then on, plants the origin of their subsequent sorrows and tortures. According to the moralists, although she is a degraded woman, her socalled degradation should be attributed to her tragic marriage. Apart from that, Puritanism is another cause to her poor fate. The Scriptures demand death for adultery, and the Puritan laws closely follow the Biblical pattern. The Puritan “fathers” stress fidelity in marriage and the sacredness of the family. Thus, the “laws” between by Hester and Dimmesdale are the seventh commandment of Decalogue, and Hesters crime of adultery can only be punished by death. In Hesters opinion, even though their marriage ends in a failure, Chillingwort