Abstract:Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) is one of the greatest American romantic novelists in 1950s. He is seen as a key figure in the development of American literature for his tales of the nation's colonial history. His masterpiece The Scarlet Letter is about how a disordered woman, Hester Prynne, fights against the injustice of Puritan rules on the background of Scotland colonization. The novel not only created a great stir at that time, but also had an immense influence to the later development of Feminism. All kinds of Hester’s behavior shows the feminism thought of Hawthorne as a male novelist.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s attitude toward women, in both his life and works, is now becoming an area of critical debate. Although in the past Hawthorne has been generally accepted as a misogynist, in all areas of his life, Nina Baym and others have begun to question this assumption. While Hawthorne may not have been a feminist by late 20th century standards, he was in line with the feminist ideas of his day, and his works showed a great empathy with respect for iconoclastic women in difficult social situations.

In this thesis, on the basis of the former study of The Scarlet Letter and feminism, I am going to focus on the unusual behavior of Hester when she faced with dilemma and difficulties to highlight the special virtue in Hester and the feminism consciousness in Hawthorne.

Key Words: Hawthorne, feminism, Hester, consciousness

Contents

摘要

Abstract

Chapter 1 Introduction-1

1.1 Hawthorne and His Major Literature Achievements-1

1.2 A Brief Introduction to The Scarlet Letter-2

1.3 Literature Review-3

1.3.1 Previous Research on The Scarlet Letter-3

1.3.2 The purpose and Significance of My Own Research-4

Chapter 2 Feminism-5

2.1 Definition of Feminism-5

2.2 Development of Feminism-5

Chapter 3 Feminism In Hester Prynne-7

3.1 Hester’s Rebellious Spirit-7

3.1. 1 Hester’s Attitude towards Her Punishment-7

3.1.2 Hester's Attitude towards Love-8

3.1.3 Hester's Attitude towards Pearl-9

3.2 Hester’s Self-reliance-10

3.2.1 Hester’s Independence in Economy-10

3.2.2 Hester’s Independence in Thought-11

Chapter 4 Conclusion-13

References-15

Acknowledgements-16