在《圣經》角度下審視霍桑在《紅字》中的原罪說

Hawthorne is said to be a sin-haunted writer. Sin is the theme going through most of his works especially in The Scarlet Letter. In this paper， I try to analyze the theme “sin” by combining Hawthorne’s view with Bible’s correspondent evidence.

I Hawthorne’s Theory of Original Sin with Bible.

Hawthorne is good at digging up people’s sin. From his novel， we can see signs of Bible’s original sin， and can conclude such a theme: Men are born evil， men should confess their sin and get God’s salvation by atonement.

1.1The Origin of “Original Sin”

What on earth is “original sin”? In Genesis we know Adam and Eve commit “original sin”.

They are sinful not just because they eat fruit from tree of good and evil， the point is that they disobey God’s order. Eat the forbidden fruit becomes a symbol of rebel and disloyal. God is beyond everyone and most intellectual one. Men shouldn’t be proud but be obedient under God’s superpower. Then God immediately find their rebel and became very angry. God exile them from Garden of Eden. From then on， men and women are sinful from the beginning of their lives， and have to pray for God’s forgiveness and salvation all the life.

Bible says that man’s life consists of sin， atonement and salvation， of which sin is the first step. Hawthorne also believes that men are created evil， he likes to explore the deep soul of people， to seek for the dark and mysterious part of human， and finally he finds sin that hides in it. He describes sin， and suffering from sin， so his novel is called “psychological romance”.

1.2 Desire—First Step towards Sin

How does sin form in human’s heart? In Genesis we find the original reason causing Adam and Eve degenerate---seduce of serpent. In western religious and literary tradition， serpent is symbol of cunningness and wickedness. It can arouse human’s strong desire to commit crime. Just like Bible says， “Then， after desire has conceived， it gives birth to sin; and sin， when it is full-grown， gives birth to death.” ( James1:15) Another point that merits noticing is that usually woman is the first who cannot resist temptation. Maybe because woman’s ancestor Eve give an example.

Human’s desire， whether man or woman’s， is the first step towards sin.

1.3 Suffering- the Way to sin.

The way to sin is full of conflicts and pain. Hawthorne’s characters suffer from their sin like adultery， jealousy， pride， hatred. So he believes that sin will influence human from body to soul， and his characters are getting closer to sin. Just like Paul says， “Therefore， just as sin entered the world through one man Adam， and death from sin， and in this way death came to all men， because all sinned.”(Romans，5:12)

1.4 Admit one’s Guilt to Get Salvation.

Men are born evil. Admit this fact and to repent， then pious atonement to God， expecting salvation. David gives us an example， he continuously confesses: “I am born with sin; I am sinful when my mother gives birth to me.”(Psalm， 51:5) Be willing to atone， first of all we should believe that we can get God’s salvation， “Because He will save his people from sin.”(Matthew， 1:21)

Conclusion

Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter is really a book related to Bible. We can find a lot of scriptures in Bible describing sin. Hawthorne’s family is greatly influenced by Calvinism and Christianity. They believe man’s life consists of sin， atonement and salvation， of which sin is the first step. So in Scarlet Letter Hawthorne’s three main characters are all sinful. Hester atones for crime and finally gets salvation， thus the meaning of scarlet letter changes to “angel”. But because Chillingworth never admits his guilt he can’t get salvation from God.

Bibliography

Holy Bible， New International Version， 1984， by International Bible Society

Guo Jide， American Literature: Critical Essays fourth edition， Shandong University Press， 2008， 9.

Chang Yaoxin， A Survey of American literature the 2nd Edition， Nan Kai University Press， 2003， 12.

Nathaniel Hawthorne， Scarlet Letter， Beijing October Arts Press， 1998.

（朱瑞霞：（1988-04-09），女，內蒙古人，陜西師范大學外國語學院2010級碩士研究生，研究方向：英美文學 ）