ホーソーン文学におけるマーガレット・フラー伝説

抄録

Margaret Fuller, living in the nineteenth century's 'Cult of True-Womanhood', spent all her life exploring the territory beyond her destiny. When she met newly-wed Hawthorne at Concord, she worked as an editor of 'Dial' and pondered on the relationship between man and woman. In his works such as 'Rappacini's Daughter' and The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne dramatized Fuller as a 'Dark Lady' who told a story of punishment and retribution. Like Beatrice, her father's good intention to give his daughter higher education made Fuller isolated from the world; Hester, being a noble and courageous woman, cherished in vain for the idea of being a prophetess for a new world. Hawthorne fully sympathized her idea, yet kept his attitude conservative, considering that Fuller with her knowledge and claim was a stigma in those days. In conclusion I would like to say that Fuller's radical (at that time) ideas about women' s rights, equality of both sexes and the nature of marriage influenced Hawthorne's writings, especially those works such as 'Rappacini's Daughter' and The Scarlet Letter.