A Comparative Study Of Symbols In A Dream Of Red Mansions And The Scarlet Letter

A Dream of Red Mansions has always been regarded as one of the greatest realistic and classical novels in China, and The Scarlet Letter is considered to be the first novel of American Symbolism, they both successfully employ symbols as one of their literary techniques which have deeply elaborated the feelings and ideas of the two authors.This thesis attempts to make a comparative study of the symbols in the two novels so as to identify the quite different symbolic meanings of the same types of symbols in different backgrounds of the histories, religions, philosophies and cultures.This thesis consists the following3parts:The first part briefly describes the two novels and their authors, the previous comparative study of the two novels at home and abroad, the purpose and significance of the study, and the general layout of this thesis. The second part is the main part of this thesis, including4chapters, that is from Chapter1to Chapter4, concentrates on the comparative analysis and discussion of the following four same types of symbols in the two novels:the ornaments, characters’names, settings and the color red, on the basis of the different backgrounds of the histories, religions, philosophies and cultures, and then leads to the conclusion of the similarities and dissimilarities. The last part, serves as the conclusion of the thesis, draws a conclusion of the comparative study of the symbols in the two works, and also indicates the limitations and suggestions for further study.