Since the publication, the novel has been the subject of various researches and analyzed from lots of different perspectives. 

Actually, previous studies done by the critics have contained almost every possible aspect of that novel. Some critics focused on the moral content. Others put emphasis on the interpretation of the theme. Still others were trying to explore the deep and fully meaning of symbols used by the author.

Bell (1971) had a negative feeling toward the novel. He showed that this article wasn’t great enough and can be easily drown in the history. However, afterwards, according to D. H. Lawrence (1990), the work was “so deep, so dual and so complete”. Henry James (1980) thought the novel was admirable and excellent. Furthermore, lots of scholars also give their focus to the study of this novel. Newton Irving (1961) studied the puritan thoughts in the novel based on the modern psychology and discovered that Hawthorne tried to make the evil sin outstanding. In China, many scholars tried to study The Scarlet Letter based on different theories, such as psychological, philosophical and literary theories. 

But this thesis tries to do a research into the novel based on the eco-critical theory. There are several subs of eco-critical theory, including “green (cultural) studies”, “environmental literary criticism” and is often informed by other fields such as ecology, sustainable design, environmental history, environmentalism, and social ecology. This article puts much attention to the social and the moral ecology.

1.3 Research Question and the Research Methodology

1.3.1 Research Question

The article applies the theory of eco-criticism to analyze The Scarlet Letter. The research in this thesis will answer the following question: How is the eco-criticism awareness embodied in The Scarlet Letter?

1.3.2 Research Methodology

The thesis mainly uses documentary method and qualitative research method. In general, documentary method is often used in literature review, while qualitative research method is used in the communication for getting new ideas and thoughts when searching for the information.

1.4 Purposes and Significance

For purpose, the thesis attempts to analyze The Scarlet Letter ecologically, revealing the ecological thoughts hidden in this novel which contains the appreciation of eco-criticism, with the hope that this thesis could boost the further study of Hawthorne’s works. In addition, it has the goal to raise the ecological awareness into every literary work we read.

For significance, literary theory, generally, clarifies and interprets the relationship between writers, texts and society. Eco-criticism expands the notion of “the society” to contain the whole eco-sphere. Just as Barry Commoner (1971) wrote, “Everything is connected to everything else”. To be more concrete, the literature connects with the material world and the global system. As the environment of the natural world connects closely with teaching and writing, the need to reconsider the interactions, the inner relation between the article and the environmental surroundings, becomes more and more important. Eco-criticism is developed as a concrete critical response to this unheard conversation, an effort to develop it to a much higher level of human consciousness. As Glen A. Love stated, “Teaching and studying literature without reference to the natural conditions of the world and the basic ecological principles that underlie all life seems increasingly shortsighted, incongruous” (2003: 16). It proved the great significance of applying the eco-criticism.