【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 hen suggests that they go into the forest and have rest. This short scene actually represents Hester’s daily struggle in life. The light represents what Hester wants to be, which is pure. The movement of the light represents Hester’s constant denial of acceptance. Hester’s lack of surprise that she never expected to be admitted and is resigned to her station in life. Another way light and darkness is used is in the way Hester and Dimmesdale’s plan to escape is doomed. Hester and Dimmesdale meet in the shadows of the forest with a gloomy sky and a threatening storm overhead when they discuss their plans for the further. The gloomy weather and shadows exemplify the fact they can’t get away from the repressive force of their sins.III. Ambiguity in Morality Hawthorne’s ambiguity about man’s moral nature in The Scarlet Letter is the greatest challenge and pleasure for his readers. Is Hester guilty of anything beyond the transgression of the parochial beliefs of her immediate environment? Is her “sin” Christian and human love? Is she the noble heroine of a love story ordained in Heaven? Such ideas were confusing to many 19th century readers and are confusing to readers of today as well. Hawthorne leaves them as questions and readers must take the challenge to decide by themselves.In this novel Hawthorne examines the phenomena of guilt and shame in Puritan New England. It generates a mixture of confusion of pleasure and disquietude in the readers. The confusion is the result of a moral ambiguity in the story’s situations and characters. In this novel, this confusion brings the reader’s own beliefs into question, proving that its themes are still relevant in today’s culture.The moral ambiguity in The Scarlet Letter starts with the situation of the novel. The heroine, Hester, is an adulteress, a sinner found guilty and tired by the Puritan religious court. It seems that Hawthorne keeps on insinuating throughout the novel whether Hester deserves her punishment. Hester’s crime is reduced to a crime of passion, an expression of her individualistic rebellion against the harshness of her society, Hawthorne writes, “She has wandered without rule or guidance, in a moral wilderness。 as vast, as intricate and shadowy as the untamed forest…Her intellect and heart…roamed as freely as the wild Indian in his woods. ”[8] “The tendency of her fate and fortunes had been to set her free.”[9] Is Hester’s crime made less sinful because it is an individualistic expression? Hester’ ultimate fate seems to suggest not. She does oft die of her guilt as her lover, the Reverend Dimmesdale, does。 but she lingers on earth, forever wearing the stigma of the scarlet letter. In addition, Hawthorne does not say that Hester ascends to heavenly bliss, nor does he say that she is condemned to the fiery hell of Puritan damnation. “He was too aware of his own human frailty to arrange final judgment. He left it to his readers to recognize their own sinful humanity and their redeeming brotherhood…and sisterhood…with their fellow humans.”[10]The character of Pearl, Hester’s daughter, suggests otherwise. Like Hester, there was a trait of passion, a certain depth of hue in Pearl’s character. Pearl is the distillation of Hester and Dimmesdale’s deep, hidden wells of freedom and individuality. Roger Chillingworth ments on Pearl’s unpredictability, wondering, “Hath she any discoverable principle of being?” “None,” answers Dimmesdale, “save the freedom of a broken law.”[11] Freedom generally regarded as a positive characteristic, yet this freedom of Pearl is described as the result of a lawless rebellion. If we associate with the Romantic belief that children are innocents, unsoiled by the sins of humanity, this ambiguity is reinforced. Like Hester, Pearl’s fate gives further insight. Pearl, who has been the symbol of individuality and freedom taken to an extreme, finally bees a rich heiress, and lives a happy life. As a matter of fact, she is the only character in the novel to do so. It is also interesting to note that Pearl has inherited two things。 from her parents, the individuality of her character, and from the evil Chillingworth, Hester’s rightful husband, the property and money that allow her to live a happy life.Chillingworth is another character that contributes to this moral ambiguity. Although he is described as dark, evil, even demonic, the reader’s sympathies favor him somewhat。 as it can be seem clearly that Hester’s untruthfulness has affected him deeply. Initially, Chillingworth is a wronged man, but he determines to take revenge against Dimmesdale. Is it his desire for revenge that makes him evil。 or is it his method of seeking revenge that makes him evil? This is not made clear. Dimmesdale expresses a rationalization of this demonization of Chillingworth, claiming, “We are not, Hester, the worst sinners in the world. There is one worse than even the polluted priest! That old man’s revenge has been blacker than my sin. He has violated, in cold blood, the sanctity of a human heart. Thou and I, Hester, never did so!”[12] Dimmesdale simply ignores the wounds they have instilled on Chillngworth. This oversight accentuates the doubts in the heart of readers. They cannot help asking whether Hester and Dimmesdale really deserve of their sympathy, and Chillingworth deserves of their revulsion?Dimmesdale is also a source of moral uncertainty in the novel. The character of the “pollute priest” is a mon one, and is mentary on the impossibility of attaining the purity of God on earth. Corrupted by sin and living the lie of holiness, Dimmesdale wonders if his charade is necessary to ensure that God’s work is acplished on earth. Dimmesdale wrestles with this idea of salvation through hardworking, perceiving in his churchly duties in the hope of redeeming himself. Dimmesdale explains this situation to Chillngworth as he outlines why a hypothetical person might keep his sins a secret. “… guilty as they may be, retaining, nevertheless, a zeal for God’s glory and man’s welfare, they shrink from displaying themselves black and filthy in the view of men, because, thenceforward, no good may be achieved by them。 No evil of the past be redeemed by better service.” [13] Are Dimmesdale’s hopes in vain? Dimmesdale confesses his sin after an inspired Election Day sermon, dying as he reveals the truths. Is this an indicati