Symbolic Meanings，Sin，and Human Nature： Comparative Analysis of The Scarlet Letter and Young Goodman Brown

◆Abstract：As one of most influential romantic novelists in the 19th century，Nathaniel Hawthorne is at his best when dealing with the themes of human nature and sin.The Scarlet Letter and Young Goodman brown，two of his well-known works，have been studied by scholars widely.This paper mainly compares the similarities and differences between the two works from three aspects： symbolic meanings，sin，and human nature.By comparing these three aspects of two novels，it helps people understand Hawthornes views on human nature better.

◆Keywords：The Scarlet letter；Young Goodman Brown；symbolic meanings；sin；human nature

Comparative Analysis of The Scarlet Letter and Young Goodman Brown

This paper endeavors to compare the symbolic meanings，sin，and human nature in The Scarlet Letter and Young Goodman Brown，two of Nathaniel Hawthornes best-known works，in order to explore Hawthornes attitudes towards human nature.The main body of this paper presents the symbolic meanings，sin，and human nature in the two novels respectively.The final part discusses the results of the comparative analysis and draws a conclusion.

As a great symbolist，Hawthorne made good use of symbols to express his ideas.The characters names embodied symbolic meanings both in The Scarlet Letter and Young Goodman Brown.Whats more，sin and human nature have also presented in those two stories.

Symbolic Meanings

Both in The Scarlet Letter and Young Goodman Brown，the names of main characters have symbolic meanings，and each character possesses sin in novels.Ones psychological activity and behavior can reveal his hidden nature.

In The Scarlet Letter，Hester Prynne，as a heroine，Hawthorne gives her a name full of symbolism.There are two symbolic meanings in Hester.First of all，the pronunciation of “Hester” is very similar to “Hestia” who is vestal，goddess of kitchen，in Greece myth.Kitchen symbolizes home and warmth.From this point of view，Hester is a beautiful woman full of enthusiasm.Just as what Hawthorne described in book，“The young woman was tall，with a figure of perfect elegance on a large scale.The bright morning sun，therefore，shone on board shoulders and well developed busts，and on round and ruddy cheeks” （Tian Junwu 55）.Secondly，the pronunciation of “Hester” is as same as “hastier”，which means reckless and hopeless，which is the reality of Hesters marriage life.When Hester was young，she married Chillingworth who is pseudo-scholar，careless and passionless.When she came to Boston，she fell in love with Dimmesdale so hastily that even have no time to consider the consequences of it.In The Scarlet Letter，there is another name full of symbolic meaning，Arthur Dimmesdale.Logically speaking，the initial of his name “Arthur Dimmesdale” is “AD”，which could be interpreted as “adultery”，specifically told the readers that he is Hesters accomplice.Dimmesdale has rich symbolism.“Dim” means vague and dark，“dale” is valley，so in the deep heart of Arthur Dimmesdale，it is a dark valley full of mystery.This name expressed exactly his inherent spirit after committed adultery.The third character in The Scarlet Letter is Roger Chillingworth，who is described as an evil-natured and remorseless old man by Hawthorne.All of chillingworths nature and character has been reflected incisively and vividly by his name.“chilling” and “worth” makes his first name Chillingworth，“chilling” is from “chilly”，means unpleasant cold.It symbolizes that Chillingworth is a ruthless and cold blood avenger.In the novel，Pearl is the mirror of sin that committed by Hester and Dimmesdale.As a symbol，Pearl always keep Hester aware of her sin，she always keep Hester aware that there is no escape from her passionate nature.Throughout the whole novel，we can find out that Pearl is pure，innocent，precious，beautiful and honest.

In Young Goodman Brown，the main characters are full of dark，symbolic and mystery.It reveals the reality and universality of the evil.Characters names in Young Goodman Brown are very straight forward.Goodman Brown is young； it means na?ve，simple and innocent.The direct meaning of “Goodman” is good man and that is the very first judgment to him.However，there are many evil temptations in the world，even a good man can not resist，just as Brown was tempted to the evil meeting.His last name，Brown，is a mixed color of white and black，a kind of color full of gloomy and dark.In other words，everyone has a mixed quality of goodness and evil.On the other hand，Browns wife，Faith，whose name indicates love，hope and belief.Faith not only is Browns wife in reality，but also his spiritual belief both in God and human beings.She is so pure，and innocent that Brown can not believe she is with wicked one.Hawthornes obsession of naming the characters with implied meaning is easily find in these two novels.Both characterss names in these two novels contains deeper meaning relating to sin，goodness and evil.And those characters destiny is doomed or predestined one way or another due to their name.

Sin

In The Scarlet Letter，Hester Prynne was regarded as a sinner who committed adultery at the very beginning and was forced to wear the scarlet letter A on her bosom in public.“There is no doubt that the scarlet letter A as a symbol of Hesters evildoings reveals her despicable and shameful sin at first” （Zeng Fang 29-32）.For Hester，the scarlet letter is a physical manifestation of her sin and reminder of her painful solitude.As self-devoted as Hester，which produced all the softening influence of the latter quality on the public mind .It is her independence； her spirit of enduring the humiliation alone for several years changed both the interpretation of her identity and the interpretation of the scarlet letter A.The scarlet letter A had endowed her with a new sense that Hester was regarded not as a woman who committed “Adultery”，but an “Angle” who enjoyed helping the poor.All the suffering and shame that the scarlet letter A had bought only made Hester Prynne a stronger woman.

Dimmesdale，as Hesters secrete lover，is a conscientious，rigid，pious and well-learned minister.However，he cares more about his reputation than anything else，so he overcame with a great horror of his mind everyday for fear of the revelation of his long hidden sin.At the same time，he was also overwhelmed by the shame，guilty and compunction of knowing Hester Prynne endured the consequences all by her self as to keep secrete for his good name.Every time the thought about his reputation forced him swallowed his secrete just made him more miserable.He was haunted by his natural moral feeling that he should share Hesters shame.This miserable clergyman has been tortured both physically and mentally.The scarlet letter is just like a piercing reminder of his guilty and a scar on fire that burned this poor minister on his heart.“I am powerless to go.Wretched and sinful as I am，I have had no other thought than to drag on my earthly existence in the sphere where providence hath placed me.Thou tellest of running a race to a man whose knees are tottering beneath him！ I must die here！ There is not the strength or courage left me to venture in to the wide，strange，difficult world alone ”（Nathaniel Hawthorne 225）！ How pathetic.Finally，Dimmesdale found inner peace by revealing his long hidden sin in public.All those suffering，misery and weakness that the scarlet letter has been produced were vanished with his death.

Chillingworth is sinful and stands for the devil.He knew clearly that the marriage between Hester Prynne and him was not out of love，but out of his loneliness.He knew that their relationship was unnatural； he knew that it is unfair to young Hester.But even he knew the facts well，there was no chance for Chillingworth to feel sorry for this unfair marriage.When finds out that its the town minister Dimmesdale.He then uses his position as doctor，under the guise of treating Dimmesdales unexplained sickness manipulates Dimmesdale into insanity.

In Young Goodman Brown，Goodman Brown，as a central character，is presented initially as a good person devoted to his wife and well schooled in both religious and civic values.He believes in the goodness of the townspeople until he sees many of them attending a witches Sabbath in the forest.As a young man，Brown has lots of instinctive desires，but some of desires are immoral and collide with social ethics.Just as the beginning of story，Brown is curious about the evil，which made him insisted to attend the covenant of the devil no matter how his wife persuaded him.Like what book describes，Goodman Brown falls into self-doubt after three months of marriage which to him represents sin and depravity as opposed to salvation.And his journey to the forest is symbolic of Christian ‘self-exploration in which doubt immediately supplants faith.

According to the analysis above，although characters in these two works all possessed different kind of sin，their wrong doings are somewhat are attribute to the unavoidable sin that rooted in human beings.

Human Nature

In The Scarlet Letter，there are two factors influenced the development of Hesters nature.The adultery Hester committed，which had broken social rules of Puritanism.Puritan society is the first factor determined Hesters humiliation of worn the scarlet A upon breast in public，highlighted her persistence，independence and capability in nature on one hand.On the other hand，the community was so hostile for her； somehow a thought with reference rose into her mind frequently.A thought of the whole race of womanhood，“to torn down the whole system of society and built up a new” （Nathaniel Hawthorne 187）.Moreover，the townspeople，as the second factor，influenced her most.At first，she was considered as a shame of townspeople，every gesture，every word and even the silence of townspeople implied that she was abandoned.However，the indifferent townspeople brought Hester the sense of self-perception and attributed to transformation of her characteristic.She finally won respect from town people by enduring hardships and helping people with kind heart.In a word，these two factors did not destroy Hester； on the contrary，made Hester an independent and reflective woman.

Arthur Dimmesdale，a minister，who was described as a well-trained clergyman，was respected by the people of the town at first，should be good natured.However，He valued his reputation so much，which made too difficult to tell the townspeople that he was Hesters secrete lover.Dimmesdale struggles with the knowledge of his sin，and inability to disclose it to puritan society and his desire for confession.The Puritan society punished Hester so severely that made Dimmesdale more remorse for letting Hester took the punishment and humiliation alone.What society had done to Hester tortured this poor minister day and night，and gradually his mind had been eaten away by the long struggle.Chillingworths secret revenge caused Dimmalesdale more pain.The secrete poison of Chillingworths malignity，infecting all the air about Dimmesdale.It is Chillingworth who tried to guide the minister to admit his hidden sin and added torments toward Dimmesdale step by step.At the same time，Chillingworths restless revenge warned Dimmesdale that the only way to be free from the misery is to make a confession.The poor minister was entangled with guilty，remorse and has born intense moral suffering for years.Of course，his nature determined his values，and his values tortured his mental world.Gradually，he got so weak and sick because his evil doing consumed him so much.The only way he can find the inner peace is to make a frank and open declaration of his long hidden sin.Like what he said to Hester，“The heart，making itself guilty of such secrete，must perforce hold them，until the day when all hidden things shall be revealed” （Nathaniel Hawthorne 148）.Finally，he rest in peace by speak out the evil secrete，all in all，the human nature of Arthur Dimmesdale is good.

In Young Goodman Brown，Brown insisted to attend the covenant of the devil.However，he was contradictory on his way to that meeting.On the one hand，he was curious about the evil meeting，on the other hand，he felt the restriction of social ethics and condemns from his heart and want to go back to his wife from the devil.It is the mystery of evil forest called for him.At the beginning of the story，Brown believes that Faith is pure and good； Brown was firmly said that “With heaven above and Faith below，I will yet stand firm against the devil.” Whereas，when he find his Faith is no longer his faith，his heart full of agony and desperation，so he cried，“My faith is gone.There is no good on earth and sin is but a name.Come，devil，for to thee is this world given”（Hu Yonghen 200），Goodman Brown lost the hope of life after that night.So when Brown went back home，he escaped from Faiths hug when seeing her with pink ribbons，at that night，Brown believes in the absolute evil at the heart of man and completely lost his faith in God.No one knows about it，it was a dream of evil omen for young Goodman Brown，but what stated clearly in the story is “evil is the nature of mankind，evil must be your only happiness （Ding Xiaochun 11）”.Consequently，the human nature of Brown is ambiguous.

Discussion and Conclusion

There is no doubt that The Scarlet Letter and Young Goodman Brown are Hawthornes perfect examples of his favorite theme that human nature full of hidden wickedness.By analyzing three aspects of The Scarlet Letter and Young Goodman Brown，we can see that human nature is complex and contradictory.There are many similarities between those two stories.First of all，the name of every character in stories is full of symbolic meaning.Secondly，everyone in stories possesses evil secret.Thirdly，those who sinful must be punished one way or another.Whereas，there are still differences between those two works.The ending of The Scarlet Letter is very clear.However，the ending of Young Goodman Brown is full of ambiguity.We do not even know that if everything happened in the forest is true.Young Goodman Brown is more mysterious than The Scarlet Letter.

Both in The Scarlet Letter and Young Goodman brown，Hawthorne uses symbolism and many psychological descriptions to demonstrate characters sin and human nature.From comparative analysis，from Hawthornes point of view，human beings are intrinsically evil in nature.However，there is a hope in human nature.The Pearl in The Scarlet Letter is the hope and good side of human nature； whats more，Hawthorne described Chillingworth as a remorseless villain who did all kinds of evil things before his death，but at the end of the story，by Chillingworths last will，he left his property to the daughter of Hester，a little girl who are not genetically related to him.Therefore，it shows Hawthorne also holds a glimpse of hope in human nature.

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作者簡介

院晶晶（1993—），女，漢族，陜西省榆林市，在讀碩士研究生，單位：內蒙古大學；研究方向：英語語言文學專業。