| 摘要: | 論文題要 此論文目的在於探討霍桑小說中兩個主要的議題——罪與同情。罪是違反道德規範及對個人心靈神聖性之輕視。同情是與他人感同身受的能力，以及出於憐憫而分擔他人痛苦之意願。表面上看來，罪與同情似乎不相關，但此論文中所探討的六篇作品——“Young Goodman Brown,” “Wakefield,” “Ethan Brand,” “The Minister's Black Veil,” The Blithedale Romance, 與 The Scarlet Letter——顯示出霍桑所關注的是罪與同情間緊密又複雜的關聯。誤用同情會導致罪惡，而同情的力量也能讓罪人走出因罪惡所造成的孤立狀態。 在霍桑的認知中，人心是善惡並存的。由第二章所探討的四篇作品可發現，當心中的惡誘導人犯罪，最直接的後果就是陷入孤立。第三章以The Blithedale Romance為例，若同情為善的念頭遭到誤用，最後也可能令人犯下惡行。第四章以The Scarlet Letter說明，罪人只要能以同情的力量贏得他人的寬恕接納，就可以超脫孤立，進而回歸社會人群。 一個人生存在社會中，最不可或缺的就是其人際關聯及互動。在結論中我將重申，藉由探討罪與同情間複雜又緊密的關聯，我們可發現霍桑的作品處處表現出他對人性的關懷與真知灼見。 Abstract In this thesis, I aim to investigate the special relationship between two major concerns in Hawthorne’s fiction—sin and sympathy. Sin can be regarded as the violation of morality and the disrespect for the sanctity of the human soul while sympathy is the ability to feel with others and share their burdens out of a merciful intention. Although superficially sin seems not to be relevant to sympathy, in the six works discussed in this thesis—“Young Goodman Brown,” “Wakefield,” “Ethan Brand,” “The Minister's Black Veil,” The Blithedale Romance, and The Scarlet Letter—Hawthorne is concerned about the close and complicated relationship between the two. Thus, the misuse of sympathy may result in sin, while the power of sympathy can bring the sinner out the isolation resulting from sin. Hawthorne deems that the human heart is a combination of holiness and evil. In the four stories discussed in the second chapter we can see when evil dominates the human heart and leads the individual to commit sin, the sinner may suffer from isolation. In the third chapter I will study The Blithedale Romance as an example to illustrate that a sympathetic intention may become an evil if sympathy is misused. In chapter four I will tackle The Scarlet Letter to show that a sinner can compensate for his fault and come back to society as long as he wins others’ acceptance through the power of sympathy. As the “magnetic chain of humanity”—the individual’s human bond and relationship with one another—is indispensable for an individual to exist in the world, in the concluding chapter I will explain that by dealing with the complicated relationship between sin and sympathy, Hawthorne projects his great insight to his works. As a result, this is what makes his literary works immortal. |
