Penetrating Into The Mysteries Of Psychic Life--A Study Of "Psychological Romance" In "The Scarlet Letter"

Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the most American important romantic writers in 19th century, who is undoubtedly the first native American writer. His masterpiece " The Scarlet Letter" has attracted much attention of the critical world with the publication of 1850. "The Scarlet Letter" is at the same time Hawthorne's debut in a new artistic medium and a kind of retrospective exhibit of his work. No other of his novels is so close to the preoccupations of his tales. His choice of chronological setting aligns the book with all his studies of the historical past, and each setting has its own unique scene. As a result, it takes a dramatic effect. While describing the characters of "The Scarlet Letter", the writer grasps firmly their psychological characteristics to make the abstract psychological actions more vivid with the help of his rich fancy and abundant imagination, which forms the " Psychological Romance ". "The Scarlet Letter" is a story of a triangular love affair in colonial America. It condemns The Puritan philosophy of life.The paper concentrates on exploring Hawthorne's "Psychological Romance"－psychological delineation to understand fully the images of main characters and the distinguished features of art in this novel through the basic medium of psychological analysis and the usage of symbols.The paper is divided into three parts:Part I: Hawthorne's unique form of"Psychological Romance", it contains the following two aspects. 1.Psychological Romance — Hawthorne's psychological treatment with his artistic writing , which is a general summary of Hawthorne's romantic form of fiction and the "Psychological Romance". 2. Psychological Romance — based on Puritanism and Transcendentalism, which is the analysis of Hawthorne's Puritanism and Philosophy. Hawthorne is inevitably influenced by Puritanism, partly by Transcendentalism, and to some extent by mysticism, which are all embodied in the fiction. On the one hand, the writer actively opposed to Puritanism. On the other hard, he makes full use of psychological descriptions and symbols to achieve the true sides of the psychology. Part Ⅱ:The Psychological Delineation and Analysis of the "Psychological Romance".As a seminal work Hawthorne's perceptive portrayal of the four protagonists of "The Scarlet Letter"makes the abstract psychic life vivid. The style is romantic and it expresses the characters' fanciful "Psychological Romance". The writer combines the complicated psychic life with the character's appearance and look. He gradually penetrates the psychological fastnesses of his characters with the help of the elements such as illusion, exaggeration, monologue, metaphor and the symbols of objects. The artistic method of the contrast with and the reflection to the psychology truthfully represents the major characters' psychic process. Therefore "The Scarlet Letter" is called "Psychological Romance". Thereafter, Hawthorne is acknowledged as psychological analytic writer.Part Ⅲ: The Artistic Medium of "Psychological Romance" —Symbols. It is with the help of this rhetorical device that Hawthorne vividly describes the characters' psychology. Symbolism goes through the whole novel. Three aspects are involved in this part:1. There is an analysis of symbolic meaning of the Scarlet letter "A". Scarlet, which is the color of blood and fire, not only symbolizes the life, strength and enthusiasm, but also the pure, beautiful and passionate love between Dimmesdale and Hester. The letter "A" is given new meanings because of Hester's honest behavior. It is regarded as the cross on nuns' breast, which symbolizes the acts of the apostle and angel. The letter "A" glitters brilliance, which can even be projected into the future world and used as a direction for people to progress. The novel begins with it and ends up with it also, which symbolizes that the mighty power has killed the weak life. 2. The symbolic meanings of the surroundings and objects. 3. The symbolic meanings of the characters. This paper an...