Abstract

The Scarlet Letter is a historical novel of the famous novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne in the 19th century which is endowed with multiple meanings of its theme thoughts. Different scholars have different explanations of the theme about The Scarlet Letter. It is a worthy topic to explore the literary techniques in The Scarlet Letter. Symbolism was successfully embodied in this novel by Hawthorne of his expression about the different kinds of “A” in different characters. Meanwhile, the “A” on Hester’s breast has a changed symbolic meaning from “Adultery” to “Angel” & “Able”. Not only the symbolic meanings but also his innovative narrative technique is worth making a deep study about The Scarlet Letter. This paper will be a deeper research and it aims at expressing its literary techniques from narrative features, symbolism, irony and characterization.

Key words: literary techniques, narrative strategy, symbolism, irony, characterization

CONTENTS

中文摘要

Abstract

1. Introduction-1

2. Literature Review-2

3. The Narrative Features-3

3.1 Omniscience Narration-3

3.2 The Relationship between the Narrative Features and the Plot-4

4. Symbolism of letter “A” in the Novel-4

4.1Definition of Symbolism-4

4.2Adultery──the Punishment of Sin-5

4.3Able&Angel──the Changed Symbolic Meanings-6

5. Irony-6

5.1 Definition-6

5.2 Verbal Irony-7

5.3 Structure Irony-7

5.4 Model Irony-8

6. Characterization-9

6.1 The Letter “A” Of Hester──Sin and Atonement-9

6.2 The Invisible Red “A” Of Chillingworth-9

6.3 The Red “A” of Dimmesdale──the Contradiction of Religion and Humanity-10

6.4 An Alive “A” of Pearl-10

7. Conclusion-11

7.1 Review of the Points in the Paper-11

7.2 Further Perspectives-11

References-12