Decoding Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter From The Perspective Of Ecocriticism

Nathaniel Hawthorne is an outstanding writer in the 19th century in America, whosenovels are unique in thought and artistic technique. As Hawthorne's first novel and hismasterpiece, The Scarlet Letter serves as the first symbolic novel in the history of Americanliterature as well, which is known for its great imagination and profound themes. The ScarletLetter has attracted much attention from expects and scholars both at home and abroad sinceits publication.It is a new attempt to decode The Scarlet Letter from the perspective of ecocriticism. Inthe novel, Hawthorne has expressed his deep concern about human ecological imbalance,which reflects his excellent ecological wisdom.The thesis attempts to decode The Scarlet Letter from such aspects as natural ecology,social ecology, and spiritual ecology. The novel has revealed basic relationship between manand nature, man and man, and man and self. These three relations are restricted mutually.Only by means of coordinating their relations, can human beings realize ecological balanceand sustainable development in a true sense.The thesis can be divided into six chapters. Chapter one is introduction of the theoreticalbasis, the structure and originality of the thesis. Chapter two is literature review, introducingthe ideological origin of ecocriticism. It also studies major issues of Hawthorne and TheScarlet Letter. Chapter three has discussed natural ecology in The Scarlet Letter, involvingHawthorne's view on nature ecology, great destruction of nature and disharmony betweenman and nature. Chapter four studies the social ecological aspects. Chapter five probes intothe spiritual ecology in the novel. Chapter six is conclusion.