摘要：Through textual analysis, this paper investigates free-thinking and its implications on human existence from an Existential perspective in Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic The Scarlet Letter. It focuses on the presence, freedom, and choice of individuals. The study looks into how our activities are linked to our personal freedom. It investigates the factors that influence man's behaviours and beliefs, as well as how he reacts when his freedom is curtailed. The study's major goal is to look at how individuals might discover the reality of life via free thought and how existentialism is represented in the novel. The study discovered that free thinking promotes the use of intellectual inquiry against the enforced authority of historical institutions such as religion and politics, and that it may benefit all aspects of man's existence. It was also discovered that free thought leads to self-sufficiency and independence. Scholars will be able to see this novel in a new light as a result of our research.
关键词：Free thought;free thinker;existentialism;Nathaniel Hawthorn;The Scarlet Letter
