An Interpretation Of "A" In The Scarlet Letter From The Perspective Of Relevance Theory

As one of the greatest romantic novels in American literature in the19thcentury,Hawthorne’s masterpiece, The Scarlet Letter, has been the classic literature book withgreat value in research. The relevance theory which plays an irreplaceable role in thehistory of pragmatics study is important for the readers to understand The ScarletLetter. The usage of relevance theory guarantees the success of communication. As anew communication model, relevance theory defines two participants ofcommunication as communicator and addressee. Relevance theory adds description toa novel to help the readers take abstract communication and put it into concrete termsand then figure out what meaning the writer of the novel is intending to convey. Itallows them to go beyond the outward view of the novel and further into its internalstructure to grasp its deep meaning. In this novel, relevance theory is used to stimulatethe reader to think and image. By analyzing the ostension of Hawthorne and theinference of readers of the novel to the scarlet letter A reveal rich meanings of A. In thesame sentence in The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne endows the scarlet letter A with dualmeanings of adultery and apple, Arthur and Adam, angel and able, amicable andadmirable, art and artist. To different readers of The Scarlet Letter, they can getdifferent meanings of A as alone, alienation, agony, anguish, affection, aid, Amazon,ambivalence and avenger. In the specific context, Hawthorne connects the scarlet letterA with America, authority, adulteress, adulterer and amour. Through studying TheScarlet Letter in detail, this thesis hopes to explore an approach to better understand this novel.This thesis begins with the introduction to The Scarlet Letter and expounds thenecessity, importance, the objective and organization of this thesis. Then the previousstudies of relevance theory and The Scarlet Letter are introduced in details. Then thisthesis introduces relevance theory and discusses ostensive───inferentialcommunication model, the optimal relevance and principles of relevance. Based on thistheory, the author of this thesis analyzes Hawthorne’s ostension, the informative andcommunicative intentions in ostension, factors influence his ostension and readers’inference of The Scarlet Letter and then visualizes different ingenious meanings of A.Finally, the author concludes the limitations of this thesis and gives suggestions forfurther research.