美国文学史全文赏析

2021年1月25日发(作者：mala)
The Scarlet Letter: Bathaniel Hawthorne
Main characters
Hester Prynne:
the heroine of the novel. It is bot a praise of a Hester sinning, but a
hymn on the moral growth of the woman when sinned against. Hen response
to the adultery and the scarlet letter A is positive. Her life eventually acquires a
real
significance
when
she
reestabilishes
a
meaningful
relatinship
with
her
fellowmen.
An
industrious,
brave
and
unbending
woman,
she
was
once
a
sinner and later turned to a figure of high virtue.
Dimmesdale:
the unrevealed adulterer, on the other hand, is negative. He cuts himself
off from society and withers spiritually as well as physically. And finally he
dies an honest man. He dies in the end in her arms while confessing his sin at a
public gathering. Only at the end if his life was he delivered from his sin and
sense of guilt.
Chillingworth:

the real murderer of the story, who really commits “the Unpardonable
Sin”. As a cold
-natured physician,however, he designed a inhumane scheme if
cold
revenge
by
constantly
tormenting
the
sinning
soul
of
minister
until
the
poor clergyman is
tormented to
death.
He becomes a demon
in
his
revenge,
but the end of him is also tragic enough. Dimmesdale’s declar
ation before his
death,
“Thou, too,
hast
deeply sinned!” is
like God’s judgement on him and
gives him a deadly blow. The last time we see him, he is kneeing down besides
Dimmesdate,”with a blank, dull countenance, out of which the life seemed to
hhave depa
rted.”

Features
The symbolic significance

of the A.

A is symbolic of Hester’s moral development.
At first, it is a token of shame, ”Adultery”. But then the genuine sympathy and
help Hester offers to her fellow villagers changes it to “able”. Finally in th
e
story, the letter A appears in the sky, signifying “angel”.

Inner minds description.


All the major figures have complex psychologies. There
is
a
sembalance
of
interior
monologues
which
reveal
their
states
of
mind.
Hawthorne’s
influence
has
been
great.
T
he
psychological
realism
of
Henry
James may have taken its cue from Hawthorne’s descriptions of inner minds,
and William Faulkner, clearly shows his indebtedness to him.
Mobe Dick:Herman Melville
The theme:


1, the human research for truth and meaning of existence; conflect between good and
evil,
between
man
and
nature;
alienation
isolation,
which
exists
in
the
life
of
Melville’s time on different levels, between man and man, man and society,and man
and nature.

2, it is first a Shakespearean tragedy of man fighting against overwhelming odds in
an indiffrefnt and even hostile universe. It represents the sum total of his bleak view
of
the
world
in
which
he
lived.
Man
can
observe
and
even
manipulate
to
a
certain
degree, but he can’t influence and over come n
ature at its source.
Character Analysis

Ishmael:


The narrator of the story and a cool observer and judge of the whole
incident. His thoughtful mind added a strong philosophical notion to the novel and his
good knowledge in whaling made the novel an interesting book on whaling. His very
name
is
powerfully
loaded.
He
resembles
his
namesake
in
the
Bible
in
that
he
is
a
wanderer. He starts out feeling bad, hoping to find a place where he can live a happy
and ideal life. Up to the time he goes on board the Pequod and midway through the
book, he is an escapist. However, gradually he comes to see the fully of Ahab seeking
to
conquer
nature,
and
begins
to
feel
significance
of
love
and

learned to accept, an attitude which alone ensures his ---
and humanity’s
--- survival.
Voyaging for Ishmael has become a journey in quest of knowledge and values.

Captain Ahab:
A man who is obsessed with the killing of a white whale that has
maimed
him.
He
has
a
scar
which
extends
from
his
head
to
his
leg.
He
is
a
monomaniac
person
who
set
out
to
destroy
Evil
but
only
to
be
destroyed.
He
was
passionate,
powerful,
and
single-minded.
He
hates
Moby
Dick
which
is
the
embodiment
of
evil.
He
is
angry
because
his
pride
is
wounded.
He
is
bent
on
avenging
himself.
He
loses
sanity
and
humanity
and
becomes
a
devilish
creature
rushing
headlong
towards
his
doom.
He
stubbornly
attached
a
moral
quality
to
an
amoral creature and launched a battle against it at the expense of his life as well as the
lives of his crew.
Starbuck:

He
the
first
mate,
is
bold
enough
to
criticize
Ahab's
vengeance,
considers mutiny but fails. In contrast to Ahab, he was the embodiment of rationality.
But
his
weak
reasonable
mind
was
never
a
match
to
the
burning
passion
of
the
captain.
Moby
Dick:
It
is
the
White
Whale;
the
world’s largest
creature.
It
is
powe
rful,
legendary image of nature. It swims peacefully in the sea until disturbed by humans,
then shows a terrible fury and anger. By far the most conspicuous symbol in the book
is, of course Moby Dick. The white whale is capable of many interpretations. It is a
symbol of evil to some, one of goodness to others, and of both to still others. He is
paradoxically
benign
and
malevolent,
nourishing
and
destructive,
“massive,
brutal,
monolithic, but at the same time protean, erotically beautiful, infinitely variabl
e.” Its
whiteness
is
a
paradoxical
color,
too,
signifying
as
it
does
death
and
corruption
as
well as
purity, innocence, and
youth.
It
represents
the final
mystery of the universe
which man will do well to desist from pursuing. As Ahab and his crew do not leave it
alone, it is only natural that they get drowned. Melville manages to achieve the effect
of
ambiguity
through
employing
the
technique
of
multiple
view
in
his
narratives.
Moby Dick is portrayed from different angles. The method of multiple view definitely
helps
to
create
a
symbolic

Dick
thus
reveals
the
basic
pattern
of
nineteenth-century
American
life:
loneliness
and
suicidal
individualism
in
a
self-styled democracy.
Writing techniques:

1, the symbolism used in the book: