『주홍글자』에 나타난 서술방식―모호성의 원인분석을 중심으로―

Abstract

This paper aims to identify narrative method in The Scarlet Letter by surveying Hawthorne's romance literary view and analyzing the problem of ambiguity.Hawthorne tried to show spiritual reality immanent in the visible world. Unlike contemporary famous writers his major concern was not only with the relationship between human and society but with the truth of human heart. Thus, Hawthorne's works are famous for ambiguity. He created a new type of novel called ROMANCE in order to show the truth of human heart. He also used revolutionary narrative techniques such as self-reflectivity, ambivalence, symbolism ,and fantasy which contribute to ambiguity. There are ambivalent narrator's voices which are everywhere present in the novel. This narrative device conduces to the text's ambiguity. For example, the narrator seems to be for Hester's radical feminism. Hester's first gesture seems to repel social authority. But later on he seems to be against it. Hester avoids any struggle for public power. Besides, she doesn't realize how inadequate a man Dimmesdale turns out to be as lover, parent, and friend. The narrator refuses to determine which alternative should hold.There are many symbols such as the scarlet letter "A", names, external features and settings. Fantasy also refers to all the unrealistic, supernatural incidents. This method is not a means of escaping from the actual world but a means to act on the actual world. It contributes to the effective reflection of reality because the human heart has a complex structure incessantly changing with the flow of time. ]In conclusion, I argue that the ambiguous narrative method in the novel depends on uncertainty of reality rather than moral significance in that The Scarlet Letter is an open text in which his narrative forms resist the closure of meaning. If the truth of the human heart is illegible, so must be the fiction to which it gives rise.