【正文】 ning 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。 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 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。 Hester had such strong love that she could not make Dimmesdale go through what she was going through. The second scaffold scene signifies cowardice. The reverend was suffering much and yet could not relieve his suffering through confession. The ending event signifies bravery. Even though he didn’t have to confess, Dimmesdale did The Scarlet Letter’s recurring event was very potent.For another instance, the forest has various meanings. It is a place where wiches gather, where souls are signed away to the devil, and where Dimmesdale can yield himself with deliberate choice to what he knows is deadly sin. It signifies darkness and evil of the world. It also means a place where Pearl can run and play scarlet “A”. It also means a natural world governed by natural laws―as opposed to the artificial, strict munity with its man―made Puritan law . In addition, the forest can also mean a place where one can find his way only by following a narrow, twisting path。 or an instance in which some use of language may be understood in diverse ways. Sometimes known as ‘plurisignation’ or ‘multiple meaning’, ambiguity became a central concept in the interpretation of poetry after William Empson, in Seven Types of Ambiguity(1930), defended it as a source of poetic richness rather than a fault of impression”.[3]Hawthorne’s ambiguity is employed in The Scarlet Letter. With this device, he casts doubt on his own story as he has told it, and he suggests that an incident may have happened in quite a different way, if at all. This thesis will be devoted to the ambiguities of natural settings, morality and the scarlet letter “A”.II. Ambiguity in Natural SettingsFor Hawthorne’s, natural settings often seem to be less important for what they are than for the idea they represent. This view results in his using of ambiguity throughout his works, which thus often take the reader a lot of effort in the search of meaning that is under the disguise of mon objects. Hawthorne’s continual use of this element gives the book a certain air of mystery。 on the other hand, he takes the fundamental religious dogma as criteria to distinguish good from evil.Since Hawthorne’s themes are often such psychological ones as sin, concealed sin, the consequences of sin, secret guilt, the impingement of the Puritan past, the futility of the prehensive social reforms, the impossibility of getting rid of sin from the human heart, etc., in dealing with these kinds of themes, he is always ambivalent, for he knows that his success as a writers depends upon his keeping psychological analysis of people he meets, while he can never forget that invasion of the sanctity of another’s personality may harden the heart even as it enriches the mind. He knows that there is “something of the hawkeye” about him, and that the line is vague between prurient curiosity and legitimate artistic study of character. Therefore, he is often seen to evade the issues with which he confronts. Hawthorne tried to “mediate between the private vision and the monsense objective world”[2]. In so doing, it seems that he is also trying to cut himself loose from any reality. That is why Hawthorne turns to allegorical method and symbols, which cause a lot of ambiguity.In all these cases lead to Hawthorne’s use of ambiguity, which leaves the solution to the reader。17Notes 13V. Conclusion 10IV. Ambiguity in Scarlet Letter “A” incredulity。因此，《紅字》的成功，也當(dāng)歸功與模糊性這一創(chuàng)作手法的運用，大大增添了這部名著的神秘與魅力?！都t字》中的模糊性可見與諸多方面，對自然環(huán)境的描寫，道德觀在四個主要人物中的體現(xiàn)以及紅字本身對海絲特，珠兒以及狄姆斯臺爾的不同意義等等。即便在150年后的今天，它仍值得人們拜讀。源與人們對這部小說持續(xù)不斷的研究熱情，我們才得意對這部小說的不同理解與解釋有所了解，同時也激發(fā)起我們對霍桑運用模糊性這一表現(xiàn)手法的探究興趣。事實上，眾多的文學(xué)批評家們，一直在嘗試著用各種方法研究這部小說。在他創(chuàng)作的幾部長篇小說中，《紅字》一直被列為“霍桑式”小說中最為出色的一部。廊坊師范學(xué)院本科生畢業(yè)論文題目：《紅字》中的模糊性姓名：李海肖指導(dǎo)教師：安曉紅系別：英語系專業(yè)：英語教育年級：接本完成時間5月20日Ambiguity in The Scarlet LetterByLi HaixiaoProf: An XiaohongSubmitted to the BA mittee in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Bachelor of Arts in the English department of Langfang Teachers College2004/5/20題目：《紅字》中的模糊性摘要：納撒尼爾霍桑是美國19世紀(jì)杰出的浪漫注意小說家。與所有其他優(yōu)秀文學(xué)作品一樣，《紅字》自問世以來，便激發(fā)起各種各樣的評論，而且從未間斷。也正是這個緣由，才使得霍桑的魅力有增無減，經(jīng)久不衰；從而也使他在美國文學(xué)史上的地位愈顯突出。這一手法的運用，盡管使得這部作品顯得隱晦，意義含糊、摸棱兩可，從而導(dǎo)致了多種不同的、乃至相互矛盾的解釋，但是毫無疑問，在很大程度上，也正是這一藝術(shù)表現(xiàn)手法的成功運用，才使得這部小說成為霍桑的杰作，讀后令人回味無窮。模糊性是霍桑運用得最為嫻熟、最為成功的藝術(shù)手法之一。論文從以上所論及的幾個方面對霍桑在《紅字》中所運用的模糊性手法進行了探索、研究，并指出：盡管這一手法的使用，給讀者造成了一定的閱讀困難，導(dǎo)致了多種不同的乃至相互矛盾的解釋。關(guān)鍵詞：模糊性；不可理解性；令人困惑Title: Ambiguity in