On The Religious Attribute Of Fictions By Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne is an outstanding representative of romanticism writers in latter 19th century in America. Influenced by the social background, family tradition and personal experience, Hawthorne's fictions convey a strong sense of religious attribute.On one hand, with the influence of the crime perspective of precisianism, Hawthorne devoted himself in exploring moral and crime issues, as well as the "sin" hidden in people's deep minds. He advocated that the crime should be cleaned and minds should be purified by good deeds and confessions so that people could get redemption. On the other hand, due to the exclusion and massacre of paganism and precisianism's oppression and devastation of humanity, Hawthorne's fictions are also filled with doubt and perplexity, which is an extremely contradictory religious thoughts reflected in his writings.The present paper is composed of three parts. The first part mainly discusses the religious and cultural backgrounds of Hawthorne's life and their influence on his writings. The second part deals with the religious characteristics of Hawthorne's writings from two perspectives: topic and prototype. The third part techniques Hawthorne used to demonstrate the religious artistic form. Finally, the paper comments on the religious attributes reflected in Hawthorne's fictions.