Research on the Humanized Puritanism of Hawthorne in The Scarlet Letter

Nathaniel Hawthorne's fame not only relies on his artistry and writing techniques, but also on his penetrating insights into humankinds. This paper analyzes The Scarlet Letter by applying the Archetypal Theory of Frye from which the cultural personality of the author is reconstructed. Hawthorne advocated that the achieving of salvation depend on the free wills of humankinds rather than God's help. Hawthorne's intention was not to lash Puritanism bitterly, but to add some humanistic elements to it to achieve a balance between religion and human conscience.