写作手法其实《红字》是一部多重写作手法的结合体（combination）其成功建立于多重写作手法的水乳交融（in complete harmony），这种交融既极大地丰富了小说的内涵，深化了小说的主题，又激发了读者丰富的想象力下面就让我们从《红字》的三个主要写作手法来欣赏一下这部小说吧一、象征手法1.The Scarlet Letter is the first symbolic novel in the history of American fiction. And Hamilton Moby, the famous American novel critic considered Hawthorne as the “The founder of the symbol in American literature”.2.Symbolism originated from Baudelaire, a French poet.The function of symbolism used in the Scarlet Letter is to render the atmosphere and to narrate the motivation of this novel.3.《红字》中的象征运用贯穿故事始末，其中最突出的要数红字“A”了。
霍桑巧妙地让红A字在不同的地点以不同的形式多次出现，并赋予它不同的意义故事开始时，海斯特因犯通奸罪Adultery而受到清教社会的谴责和惩罚，被迫佩戴红色A字以警示众人不要重蹈覆辙随着故事的发展，海斯特虽负罪在身，却处处积德行善，从而使她胸前的“A”字在一般人的心目中变成了能干able的标志最后，海斯特以自己的美德赢得了人们的尊重和敬爱，使红A字在人们心中如同修女胸前的十字架，成为天使angel的象征除了上述的象征意义外，它还因海斯特精美绝伦的刺绣成为艺术art的标志；因为她忠贞不渝的爱情成为爱Amour的标志；因为她极受压制的天性和真情成为痛苦agony的标志；甚至因为她饱经磨难后的成熟而成了坚韧不拔的女斗士amazon的标志4.除了红A字这个典型的象征意象外，《红字》中还有无数象征意象的妙用比如,原文：···some fifteen or twenty years after the settlement of the town, the wooden jail was already marked with weather-stains and other indications of age, which gave a yet darker aspect to its beetle-browed and gloomy front. The rust on the ponderous iron-work of its oaken door looked more antique than anything else in the New World.There are two equivoques.First, “beetle-browed” means the protruding brim of an architecture or glower. Hawthorne used it to imply the ruthless control to people’s mind by Puritanism. Second, rust means “decayed” here.Besides, the New World suggests American Continent，opposite to Europe (the Old World ), which hints decay, criminal and jail are all brought from Britain.（这里两处用了双关语，其中beetle-browed既指监狱建筑物前檐突出，又有颦眉蹙额、怒目而视的意思，霍桑以此暗喻清教对人们思想的冷酷控制；rust原意是铁锈，在这里含有“腐朽”的比喻意义。
而且，霍桑以the New World指美洲大陆，与欧洲the Old World相对，暗示腐朽、犯罪、监狱等都是从英国带来的6. The most outstanding symbolism is the way the author describe his characters. Four main characters are all symbolism.Pearl is a naughty and innocent girl with full energy and she is the most typical symbolic person created by Hawthorne.Roger Chillingworth is a devil tortured by vindictive.Dimmesdale is a coward suffered a lot.Hester is a brave woman with tough will and she dares to love and hate. （《红字》中最突出的象征手法恐怕还在对人物的刻画上小说中的四个主要人物无一不是一种象征。
珠儿是个顽皮、天真、充满活力的精灵女孩；齐林沃思是被报复之心折磨得畸变了的恶魔；丁梅斯代尔是个内心深受折磨的懦夫；海斯特是位意志坚强、敢恨敢爱的勇敢女性其中，珠儿是霍桑所创造的最典型的象征性人物二、反衬7.反衬 Contrast = foiled the main idea by the reverse side to highlight the main idea.《红字》除了运用象征手法之外，还大量地运用了对比反衬的艺术手法，并且运用得极其精彩所以，美国著名艺术评论家哈里・莱文说“霍桑的艺术是建立在反衬的基础上的Harry Levin said that, “Hawthorne's art is established on the basis of the contrast”.）8.First, the author used contrast to arrange the whole novel. For example, in the fourth chapter, the contrast between Chillingworth and Hester; the contrast between Pearl and priest in the eighth chapter; and some contrasts in the tenth, fourteenth and seventeenth chapters.The author used those chapters set off to each other to feature characters and make the theme of this novel more significant. 此外，反衬的手法还对小说主要人物性格的展示与发展起着极其重要的作用。
比如，当镇上男男女女聚集在监狱“钉满粗大的铁钉子的橡木门”（the iron-clamped oaken door）外等候犯人押赴刑台时，“一群面貌丑陋的妇人们”(the ugly females)就开始了各种各样恶毒的议论三、心理描写9.细致入微的心理描写是《红字》的又一重要特色，霍桑在刻画人物心理时很注重环境的描写，常以景衬物（set off the objects by scenery）、以物托情（express fillings by describing objects）、情景交融（scene blend）1）In the second chapter, Hawthorne used a third length to describe Hester’s mental activity. For example, “Standing on that miserable eminence, she saw again her native village, in old England, and her paternal home; a decayed house of gray stone, with a poverty-stricken aspect, but retaining a half obliterated shield of arms over the portal, in token if antique gentility.”······2）In the twelfth chapter, the author described the noctivagation of Dimmesdale. “Mr. Dimmesdale was overcome with a great horror of mind, as if the universe were gazing at a scarlet token on his naked breast, right over his heart.” 。