Hawthorne was a 19th century American novelist and short story writer. The Scarlet Letter is his masterpiece, which reflects how the Puritanism devastates the human spirits and people’s longing for happiness. From the feminist point of view, The Scarlet Letter is also a novel about a rebellious woman, Hester. It creatively deduces that the heroine is fighting against the patriarchal oppression on her. The woman image that advocates feminism and seeks the romantic love is outstanding especially in Puritan society. Even though she is strong, brave, industrious, kindhearted, and with a lofty devoting spirit, her whole life is very tragic in the end. Camilla is now a “controversial” Princess in the English royal family, since she was Charles’s mistress for a long time before their marriage. Although Hester and Camilla are women in different eras, they have something in common. They have painful experiences of marriages without love. “Love is built on ideal soil, while marriage is on the basis of reality” (Xiong Wen, 82). Therefore, this paper mainly analyzes their attitudes towards love by comparison. There are similarities among their views of love. For example, both of them are rebellious women and eager to gain true love, struggling against the loveless marriages. The paper mostly demonstrates the differences from the aspects of different backgrounds, different characters, rebellious spirits, different views of love and results.
Abstract………………………………………………………………………………..I
Key Words…………………………………………………………………………….I
摘要………………………………………………………………………………………………..II
关键词……………………………………………………………………………………………..II
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………....1
I. The Different Backgrounds of Hester and Camilla…………………………………2
A. The Influence of Puritanism upon Hester’s Poor Fate…………………………..2
B. Condemn from Royal Family and the Public towards Camilla…………………4
II. Differences in Character between Hester and Camilla…………………………….6
A. Hester’s Guilty Feelings………………………………………………………...6
B. Camilla’s Confidence……………………………………………………………7
III. Rebellious Spirits………………………………………………………………….8
A. Hester’s Three Main Rebellions………………………………………………...8
1. Insistence on the Guardianship over Pearl…………………………………...8
2. Disclosing of the Hypocrisy of Chillingworth……………………………….8
3. Encouraging Dimmesdale Fleeing away with her…………………………...9
B. Camilla’s Rebellion………………………………………………………….......9
IV. Views of Love by Comparison…………………………………………………..10
A. The Influence of Feminism upon Hester’s Attitude to Love…………………..10
B. Camilla’s Active Attitude to her Love…………………………………………12
V. Different Results………………………………………………………………….13
A. Hester’s Tragic Results………………………………………………………...13
B. Camilla’s Winning of the Respect and Marrying Charles……………………..14
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………...16
Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………….17
Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………18
