不能忘却的《红字》：霍桑的清教主义紧箍咒

清教主义不是霍桑所笃信的宗教信仰，却对他的文学创作影响深远。清教主义是霍桑认识人类和社会的理论武器。而《红字》正是他捧奉给世人的一部清教主义特色的警世恒言。在这部小说中，霍桑用清教主义的眼光看待美国的经济腾飞和刚拉开帷幕的美国梦，他警告世人，社会的发展并不能代表人性的新生。

The Unforgettable Scarlet Letter:Hawthorne's Puritan Warning

Although Puritanism is not Hawthorne’s religious belief,it bears a longstanding and deep influence on his literature because Puritanism is Hawthorne’s theoretical weapon to understand human beings and society. The Scarlet Letter is just a warning book which Hawthorne contributes to his contemporaries. In this novel,Hawthorne views the inchoate American dream and the early-stage ooming of economy in America through the perspective of Puritanism,and comes up with a warning that the rebirth of human being does not follow the social development. Hawthorne believes that human beings are naturally evil and all people have a scarlet letter at their bosom,but his contemporaries have forgotten their scarlet letter and are facing a danger of another fall,so he points out that the only possibility of salvation lies in the brave deeds to re-put on the scarlet letter,to acknowledge the sin，to face the evil and to take up the obligations.