从《红字》和《荆棘鸟》看宗教禁欲主义下的爱情

Abstract
Love is the eternal theme in human life. However, love changes much because of the influence of asceticism. Although love is a tragedy, the spirit of main characters longing for love and struggling with the doctrine of religions is worth learning. It can also be learned that the asceticism restrains the human nature and results in the destruction.
This thesis will deal with the influence of asceticism on love in The Scarlet Letter and The Thorn Birds. The influence reflects mainly in the leading characters Dimmesdale and Ralph. Both of them are priests and fall in love. The worse is that each of them has a child. However, they have to abandon their beloved because of the asceticism, and they bear too much torture. So tragedy cannot be avoided.
Key Words
Love; desire; tragedy; asceticism

 
摘 要
爱情是人类永恒的话题. 可是在西方社会中，爱情由于宗教禁欲主义的影响发生了一些变化，带有了一定的悲剧色彩。在西方描写神职人员爱情的文学作品中，虽然他们的爱情是悲剧，但他们那种为了爱情而努力奋斗，甚至和宗教做抗争的精神使我们振奋。从中我们也能深刻的感受到宗教对人性的摧残。
本篇论文将从《红字》和《荆棘鸟》两部作品中的主要人物丁梅斯代尔和拉尔夫来看宗教禁欲主义对他们内心的摧残和折磨,从而导致的悲剧. 丁梅斯代尔和拉尔夫都是牧师，却同样陷入了感情之中。但是因为宗教的禁欲主义，他们不能接触爱情，一旦有了感情就要经受很多折磨和痛苦。所以悲剧的产生是必然的。
关键词
爱情; 欲望; 悲剧; 禁欲主义
 
 
Introduction
Love, one of the most beautiful and romantic emotion in human life, has been struggling with Asceticism in western society. Just because of this, love, the most beautiful feeling in human’s heart, is both a dream and a punishment in the eyes of clergymen under Asceticism. Therefore, love of clergymen in the western literary works ends in tragedy. This paper will deal with the love tragedy under Asceticism in The Scarlet Letter and The Thorn Birds.
The Scarlet Letter is written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The story happened in the background of American colony ruled by Puritan in the sixteenth century. The leading characters in this novel Dimmesdale and Hester fall in love with each other. But Dimmesdale is a priest. Before he meets Hester, he has devoted himself to the God. In this paper, you can learn Dimmesdale’s mixed feeling. He loves Hester, but he must abide by the rule of Puritan. Pearl’s birth not only sends Hester to the prison and Hester is sentenced to wear the scarlet letter “A” all her life, but also gives Dimmesdale more spiritual torture, because Dimmesdale has no courage to confess his sin. He is afraid of losing his fame, his status and the punishment of religion. The torture he suffering is not so much coming from his conscience as coming from the forbidden of asceticism. Therefore, it is asceticism that results in the tragedy love between Dimmesdale and Hester.
In The Thorn Birds, Ralph has more than one chance to choose his own life, which is not controlled by the doctrine of religion. In order to get the power, fame and his career, Ralph abandons his love. His choice provides him with the power, and forbids himself at the same time. But on the other hand, he cannot forget Meggie and he realizes the importance that Meggie means to him gradually. At that time, the religious doctrines have taken back his right staying with Meggie. Therefore, the tragedy happens inevitably.

In a word, Asceticism is cruel and inhuman to the priests in western society. It strangles too much love and resulted in too many tragedies.
I. Love in Guilty and Self-accusation—Tragedy under Asceticism in The Scarlet Letter
A. The Brief Contents of The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne discusses the original sin of human being through the love tragedy between Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale with the background of American colony ruled by Puritan in sixteenth century. The story tells about the life of the resident under the surrounding of persecution derived f