The Scarlet Letter : 17 세기 New England 역사 다시 쓰기 = The Scarlet Letter : A Revisionary History of the 17th Century New England

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne examines the myth of the 17th century New England Fathers which was prevalent in the mid-19th century America. He shows that New England Fathers had embraced the noble spiritual ideal of constructing the happiest ideal community and endeavored to realize such an ideal through sincere enthusiasm and moral sensitivity. At the same time, he also points out that they had defined any difference from their stereotype to be the `other' that needed to be persecuted and oppressed natural human instincts in the process, with the tragic consequence being unhealthy psychological condition and rigid life without creative energy in its members. Through this, Hawthorne emphasizes the fact that the ancestors of the early 17th century were neither the `visible saints' free from corrupted experience that they were hoping to be nor the progressive men who valued each individual's freedom and equal rights. Seen in this light, despite the fact that it is only a fictional novel, The Scarlet Letter finds its significance as a sort of revisionary history in having attempted to rewrite the American past in a more whole form by suggesting the dark underside of the romantic History of the time that mythified American past in a splendid but one-sided form.