《红字》英文读后感
The Scarlet Letter offers an extraordinary insight into the norms and behavior of the 17th century if American Puritan society. The basic conflicts and problems of its main characters, however, are familiar to readers in the present. The female protagonist, has borne a child out of wedlock and has been jailed for over three months and sentenced to wear a symbol of her adultery, a scarlet “A” on her dress at all times. It concerns about the moral, emotional and
psychological effect of the sin on people in
general. It’s not simply a love story or a story of sin. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the scarlet letters to symbolize the harshness of Puritan society, showing how they brand sinners for life.
The story happened in Boston about 200 years
ago. It narrates love affairs between three persons. The punished woman. Hester Prynne and his husband. Who called himself Roger Chillingworth . He is an old misshapen man and a doctor. Hester does not love him at all. Another man is a young minister, Dimmesdale, who has a high position among ministers and is highly respected among his people in town. Hester and Dimmesdale love each other. But their love is forbidden in that time . It is sinful. Due to this,Hester is punished by society with a letter
A on her chest, which considered an evil, a shame. In this novel, the mainline seems to be around the letter A. Hester is brave enough to face the
cruel reality. She is always with a mind of courage. She has been alone with her child for so long , with litter communication. Shame! Hopelessness! Loneliness! Hester has to wear the letter A day after day, seven years as for punishment and ill fame.
When a woman has lived through a difficult
experience, her character changes a great deal. If she be all tenderness, she will die. If she survive, the tenderness will leave her .Hester’s charitable deeds and quiet humility have earned her a reprieve from the scorn of the community. The letter on her chest represents her work on earth , always helping others, without expecting any thanks. Never afterwards, does that scarlet letter leave her
chest. The townspeople no longer view the letter as a punishment , but rather as representing her great strength and bravery and thy say it means “Able”. But Arthur Dimmesdale, his sin against Hester and Pearl is that he will not acknowledge them as his wife and daughter in the daylight. He keeps his dreadful secret from all those under his care in the church for seven years for fear that he will lose their love and will not be forgiven. He is too weak to admit his sins. He suffers from mysterious heart trouble, seemingly caused by psychological distress. What’s worse, he is an advisor to the townspeople about their sins.
After Mr. Dimmesdale’s death , no one changes more in appearance than Roger Chilling worth. All his strength and energy has been used to harm his
patient . This unhappy man has made his aim in life to add to the suffering of the young minister. When the evil old man no longer has such a purpose, the devil takes him back to the hell . It is a curious subject of observation, however, whether hatred or love are not of the same place. Each takes a great deal of emotion from one person. The two feelings seem basically the same, expect that one is smiled upon by God, while the other is worshipped by the devil.
The two lovers has ever decided to flee to Europe, where they can live with their dauthter Pearl as a family .They feel a sense of release there. However, their plan fails?? When Hester dies, she is buried next to Dimmesdale. The two share a single tombstone, with a deep colored letter A shining brightly.
0920031637
09英本6班
周扬琳
第二篇：红字 英文读后感 自己写的
The Scarlet Letter
《The Scarlet Letter》written by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a novel concerns souls.Everyone has his own soul.Someone defends his soul,someone does damage to it,even there are people who lose their own souls.In consequence,this world is filled with human stories in thousands of postures.
“A” is the first letter of the alphabetic which means the beginning of one thing.However,inn Christians’ tradition, the beginning indicates deprivation and original sin that no one can get rid of.According to the Bible,we are all the seed of Adam.Nevertheless,Adam and Eve were punished by Jehovah for their stealing to eat love forbidden fruit.Owing to this,we,who are the descendants of Adam and Eve,are born guilty.In Puritans’ eyes,Hester Prynne is a dissolute and immoral woman.They take Hester into custody just to show the dignity of God. So foolish people they are!An ugly woman cries:“This woman has brought shame upon us all,and ought to die.Is there not law for it? Truly there is,both in the Scripture and the statute book.”(2009:56)From this description,we can easily find that people there are so indifferent that they seem to be captivate by the church. We see,Hester is so common a woman who is dying for love and does not want to be forced to compromise to reality.“She had dark and abundant hair,so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam,and a face which,besides being beautiful from regularity of feature and richness of complexion,had the impressiveness belonging to a marked brow and deep black eyes”.(57)Hester is such a good woman that she shows great love to her beloved--Mr Dimmesdale.This religious entanglement of emotions is difficult for people who have no religion belief to understand.I am such a person who can not understand.Religion has been part of the Westerners’s life and it must be very painful to leave the religious life.But I do not have a religious experience, so it is hard for me to understand the hero's psychology. These are the obstacles for me to understand the novel and I find it hard to overcome it.
Hester’s abundant emotions are not only indicated in her enthusiasm for love, but also her devotion to life, her utmost care for her daughter,and indomitable struggle against appress.Apparently,she submits herself to the adjustment and bears a lot to carry on her life.However,she keeps struggling with the puritanism inwardly.Here, in chapter 18,we can see the vivid words:“She and wandered,without rule or guidance,in a moral wilderness;as vast,the gloom of which they were now holding a colloquy that was to decide their fate.Her intellect and heart had their home,as it were,in a decent place,where she roamed as freely as the wild Indian in his woods.”(215)She insists that things she does with Mr Dimmesdale are pure.Hester lives in a small town,swallowing humiliation and bearing a heavy load,not that she wants to atone for her crime,but that she shows her resistance against puritanism.
Then,I would like to give some of my analyses upon the symbolism of the word ‘A’.First, the most important one,A indicates the great Affection between Hester and Dimmesdale.She could escape from that place, but she is brave enough to face the reality and bear the sufferings on her own.Luckily,her warm heart wins people’s acceptance.So,here, "A" is a symbol of Able.Finally,Hester with her virtues wins the respect of the people, "A" became the symbol of the Angel. With the development of the plot, Hester gradually moves towards awakening and mature, tenacious against the Puritan rule, and thus the "A" has the meaning of an indomitable woman-- Amazon.The letter A is a symbol of love and it also represents a punishment from the God. The presence of the scarlet letter saves the soul of Hester, regulates her virtues, make people painful but enjoy the regained life, the author gives A multiple meanings.
During this period,Dimmesdale is also in suffering,he can do nothing for Hester but to watch her being teased at ,and no matter how much he loves his daughter Pearl, he cannot let others know their true relationship between each other. He suffers from his conscience.He cried in the forest :“I have laughed, in bitterness and agony of heart, at the contrast between what I seem and what I am! And Satan laughs at it!” (206) So here,A in Dimmesdale,is given another meaning--Agony.
Little Pearl brings me happiness when reading the novel.Maybe she is the only bright character who can bring us cheers. She is the daughter of Hester and Dimmesdale. First of all,the word “pearl”comes from the Bible which means a very precious thing.Recorded in the Bible, God allows a merchant to sell all their possessions to buy a pearl, and tells him that this pearl is his paradise.Hester pays a heavy price for the arrival of the Pearl. Daughter Pearl occupies a very important position in her heart, Pearl is all of her wealth.The “Scarlet Letter”was adapted into a film in 1994.Hester who is acted by Demi Moore in the movie looks just like a Pearl.