Probing Into The Perplexity Between Man And Religion

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) was an American prominent romantic writer in the late 19th century as well as one of the founders of the American literature. Because of the society and the times he was born in, the family background and his life experience, Nathaniel Hawthorne was deeply affected by the Puritanism and this was reflected in his novels. On the one hand, influenced by such Puritanism as the 'original sin' and 'inner fall', Nathaniel Hawthorne devoted himself to the problem of morality and sin, and probed into the 'original sin' and 'concealed sin' that are hidden among the inner side of the human beings. He proposed clearing oneself of guilty and purifying one's soul by performing good deeds and confessing one's sins in order to be redeemed. On the other hand, he was filled with suspicion and perplexity because of the fact that puritans rejected and got rid of the dissidents and that the Puritan canons constrained and ruined the human nature. All these account for the very existence of the complex religious beliefs of Nathaniel Hawthorne in his works. And at the same time, Nathaniel Hawthorne consciously transplanted a lot of archetypes--characters, plots and structures from the Bible into his works to express his own religious beliefs, as is known that religious beliefs are a theological system that is strictly based on the Bible. He paid special attention to the morality of human beings and selected the special time and space of Puritanism and by probing into the co-occurrence of the active and passive impact he expounded profoundly the recognition, suspicion and transcendence to Puritanism and the religious judgment and perplexity to human beings and consequently made his novels achieve a general sense of morality. In the research of Nathaniel Hawthorne's works at home, people just focus on The Scarlet Letter and the application of symbolism and the implied meanings of the symbols. As to the research of strong Puritanism existing in the works, people just pay little attention. Thus, the research work of Puritanism in Nathaniel Hawthorne's works is neither systematic nor thorough or far-reaching. The present author, based on the research that has been achieved so far in this field, attempts to clarify the close relationship of Nathaniel Hawthorne's works with Puritanism and probe into its cause of formation.