From Feminist Translation Theory "the Scarlet Letter" Hester Image Interpretation

The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the greatest works of American literature. Since its appearance of the first edition in 1850, it has gotten a lot of critical acclaim, many critics have made studies of this novel from different perspectives. In China, scholars are concerned primarily with its theme, style and the comparison of Chinese versions.Finding inspiration from the feminist translation theory, this paper analyzes four Chinese versions of the Scarlet Letter, with a view to exploring how different translators have reproduced different characters of Hester Prynne of the original. The whole paper divides into five parts, i.e. introduction, the body with 3 chapters and conclusion.Chapter 1 introduces the background, Nathaniel Hawthorne and his Scarlet Letter, Chinese translators and their different versions, the research source and meaning.Chapter 2 reviews the history of the feminist translation theory, describes its theoretical background, domestic and international research current situations, and its influence on translation studies, and suggests a unique point for gender and translation studies.Chapter 3 introduces the process in research of the Scarlet Letter in China, and presents Hawthorne's feminine consciousness in Hester, which lays the basis for different characters of Hester interpreted by different translators.Chapter 4 describes the translator's subjectivity in the feminist translation theory, and analyzes different characters of Hester in view of feminism by taking four Chinese versions for example, the conclusion is that some translators misunderstand and misrepresent the character of Hester as a result of the influence of patriarchal culture.Chapter 5 concludes that the study of literary images based on translator's genders and translation practice will enrich the field of literature translation, and make researchers reconsider the traditional literary images. In sum, the unique perspective of feminism will no doubt widen our research scopes of translation studies.