ON THE WITCH IMAGE OF HESTER

Abstract

As the heroine of The Scarlet Letter, Hester has received a lot of attention. Literary researchers have always considered her to be a strong and rebellious female figure. Although Hester shares many traits of witches, few scholars have paid attention to the witch image of Hester. Hester's witch image plays a pivotal role in the interpretation of The Scarlet Letter. In order to enrich the interpretation of The Scarlet Letter, this thesis provides the factors that influenced the creation of The Scarlet Letter, and analyzes the witch image of Hester from two aspects. Firstly, the thesis constructs the image according to the characteristics of the traditional witch possessed by Hester and then deconstructs that image by presenting the characteristics which transcend the witch image. Since no previous study explicitly mentioned the witch image of Hester, it would offer a completely new perspective to the research of Hester. Hawthorne was trying to convey two things through Hester’s witch image. For one hand, people should face the history of the Witch Trials and the suffering by women. For another, women who are defined as uncommon should refuse the stereotype.