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　　However, things like the witch trials, where innocent people had to die, could happen in his Puritan hometown of Salem, which led him to the opinion that the fusion of religious dogma and political authority was the worst evil. He was also shocked by the Puritan injustice, and was convinced that there was both good and evil in Puritanism.

　　On one hand, he assails Puritan criminal behaviors such as religious fanaticism and impermissibility to heresy; on the other hand, he takes the religious basic creed as the criterion to cognition and judgment. The contradictive mentality is typically and deeply represented in his masterpiece “The Scarlet Letter”.

　　Ⅴ The summary of the story

　　The novel, The Scarlet Letter, is about the struggle three people face while trying to live their lives in a Puritan society. In the early 1640s, Hester has come to the small town of Boston, Massachusetts, from Great Britain, while her husband, Chillingworth has left to deal with something .But after then, there is no news about him and nobody know whether he is alive or not for two years. Then she falls in love with Dimmesdale, a young handsome clergyman and then has a baby, Pearl. When her “adultery” is discovered, she is punished to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her chest all her life. Her husband, Roger, tries his best to torment Dismmesdale. And Dimmesdale, suffering from both physical and spirit torment, announces his “sin” at last, he dies an honest man. Roger, withers at last. Prynne, restructures her life and wins people’s respect. Pearl, leaves for Europe, marries a noble family, leading a happy life.

　　Ⅵ Character list

　　A) Hester Prynne

　　A young woman sent to the colonies by her husband, who plans to join her later but is presumed lost at sea. She is a symbol of the acknowledged sinner; one whose transgression has been identified and who makes appropriate, socio-religious atonement.

　　B) Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale

　　Dimmesdale is the unmarried pastor of Hesters congregation; he is also the father of Hesters daughter, Pearl. He is a symbol of the secret sinner; one who recognizes his transgression but keeps it hidden and secret, even to his own downfall.

　　C) Pearl

　　Pearl is the illegitimate daughter of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale. She is the living manifestation of Hesters sin and a symbol of the product of the act of adultery and of an act of passion and love.

　　D) Roger Chillingworth

　　The pseudonym assumed by Hester Prynnes aged scholar-husband. He is a symbol of evil, of the “devil’s handyman,” of one consumed with revenge and devoid of compassion.

　　Ⅶ Hawthorne’s attitude toward Puritanism in The Scarlet Letter

　　We can find out the author’s ambivalent feelings about Puritanism by analyzing the four main characters in the novel.

　　A) Acceptance

　　Hawthorne chooses to use God’s criteria to decide whether or not a person is sinful. And he believes that every sin must be punished. First, we should know what God’s criteria is.

　　God’s criteria is chiefly The Ten Commandments and The Seven Deadly Sins.

　　The Ten Commandments:
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