Abstract

The Scarlet Letter, a masterpiece by American famous writer Nathaniel Hawthorne in the 19th century, depicts the life in the New England during the colonial period. The plot develops around an unforgivable adultery in the eyes of the puritans at that time. The most touching part is the tragical love story between Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale.
The Thorn Birds is a novel written by contemporary Australian authoress, Colleen McCullough. After the publication of the novel in 1977, it caused a sensation. Under the depiction of the three generations of the Cleary family, through their life, love and death in Australia, the authoress vividly depicts the love story between Meggie and Ralph, who later becomes Cardinal.
Against the different times and settings, they have similar moral: the contradiction between religious asceticism and the pursuit of love. Love is an eternal theme of human. When meeting the bondage of religion, it is a tragedy. Meanwhile, in the course of fighting against religion, love is greater. The two heroines, Hester and Meggie, show their fine quality: firm, independent and brave, against the coward and hypocrisy of their lovers, thus showing the rise of feminism.
The two works have similar themes and characters. This thesis attempts, on the one hand, to make a comparative analysis between the differences and similarities of the two novels from the angle of settings, social environment and the personalities of the heroes and heroines, and also to analyze there different attitudes when facing the contradiction between love and religion, thus discussing the rise of feminism and heroism on the female characters. On the other hand, it analyzes the reasons which cause the differences between the two works.

Key Words: The Scarlet Letter，The Thorn Birds, religious asceticism，feminism, comparative analysis

摘要

《红字》是19世纪美国大作家纳撒尼尔•霍桑的传世力作，小说以殖民地时期新英格兰生活为背景，以当时严酷的清教是为罪不可赦的一桩“通奸罪”为核心展开情节，描述了海斯特•白兰与牧师丁梅斯代尔之间的悲剧爱情。
小说《荆棘鸟》是当代澳大利亚女作家考琳•麦卡洛的作品。该小说1977年问世后，引起了极大的轰动。该书通过帕迪•克里利一家三代在澳大利亚的生活、爱情及死亡经历，生动刻画了女主人公梅吉和后来成为红衣主教的拉尔夫之间的爱情故事。
不同的创作时代与创作背景，却有着相似的寓意：宗教禁欲与爱情追求的悲剧性冲突。本文旨在对两部作品的异同作对比分析。
爱情是人类永恒的话题，在上述两部作品中，当爱情受到了宗教的桎梏，就多了层悲剧色彩；与此同时，在爱情与宗教的抗争过程中，更显示出爱情的伟大。丁梅斯代尔与拉尔夫在面对宗教与爱情时，内心煎熬，备受摧残。两部作品通过两对异时异地的爱情悲剧，控诉了宗教禁欲主义扼杀人性的本质特征。而两位女主人公海斯特和梅吉成了美的化身，在面对教会的严酷教规时，情人的虚伪懦弱反衬出了她们的优秀品质：个性坚强、独立自我、敢于同宗教社会抗争捍卫自己的爱情。两部作品赞美了她们的母性和女性意识的觉醒。
两篇作品具有相似的主题及相似的主人公形象。本文将从故事背景、时代环境、男女主人公性格特点等角度切入，分析在面对宗教与爱情的矛盾时，男女主人公的不同表现与态度，来探讨女性意识的觉醒，女主人公的英雄主义色彩；通过对两者差异性的对比，分析造成其差异的原因。

关键词：《红字》；《荆棘鸟》；宗教禁欲主义；女性意识；比较研究