A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree "Licence en Langue et Littérature Anglaises"

Résumé,

This work analyses the legalistic faith of puritans sa it is portrayed by Nathaniel Hawthorne in The Scarlet Letter. A legalistic faith suggests that conformity to a strict set of rules is the most important religious practice you can perfom to attain salvation or to prove one is to go to heaven. Legalists often place a high emphasis on keeping commandment and obedience rather than forgiveness and understanding. Hawthorne shows that Hester's punishment is a form of legalism. She has sinned and must be isolated from the society to keep her from contaminating them because it is interiorized that a single sinner will cause the whole society to collapse. Hawthorne disagrees with the puritan views that society must unquestionably obey the harsh codes of moral to avoid that collapse. Also this work shows that people with legalistic mindset often doubt their salvation because they trust their own obedience to commandment and once they break the law they think they are lost forever.

As a result, they can carry around a self-imposed guilt. In veew of the inadequacy of Puritan norms, there is a need of an alternative way to salvation. In this perspective, Hawthorne, through the characterization of Hester, rejects conformism and exalts personal relationship with God.