Hawthorne’s Religious View As Seen in “Young Goodman Brown”
Abstract
Nathaniel Hawthorne is an outstanding novelist of American Romanticism in the 19th century. His short stories have most important status in American even the literary world. This thesis analyses the religious view in “Young Goodman Brown”. Because of Puritanism influenced Hawthorne greatly. First, this introduces New England Puritanism and its development. Then, Hawthorne unscrambles Brown through A Forest’s trip and A Forest’s party in “Young Goodman Brown”, and he does not only recognize “evil is the nature of mankind” but also experienced the experience of believing to suspecting. Last, this points out Brown’s contradictory religious feelings are Hawthorne’s conflict and confusion actually. In fact, Hawthorne’s contradictions and confusion not only are the conflict of Puritanism but also conflict feelings on Puritan family.
Key Words: Hawthorne; “Young Goodman Brown”; Puritanism; original sin；Religious view
摘 要
納撒尼爾•霍桑（1804-1806）是19世紀美國影響最大的浪漫主義作家。他的短篇小說不僅在美國而且在世界文壇居有很高的地位。本文透過分析短篇小說《年輕小夥子布朗》來闡釋霍桑的宗教觀。霍桑的宗教觀在很大程度上受到了清教主義的影響，因此論文首先介紹了新英格蘭的清教主義及其發展、演變過程。然後，作者透過對《年輕小夥子布朗》中布朗的“森林之旅”和“魔鬼聚會”的解讀，分析了他從信仰到懷疑的心路歷程。最後，作者指出：布朗的`宗教矛盾實際上也表明了霍桑的宗教困惑，具體說來，霍桑的這種困惑不僅源於他對於“清教”本身的矛盾，而且，也因爲他對於自己的清教家族的矛盾心理。
關鍵詞：霍桑、《年輕小夥子布朗》、清教主義、原罪、宗教觀