In doing so, Hawthorne and James expose contradictions and anxieties about the imprecise boundaries between masculinity and femininity, Protestantism and Catholicism, and innocence and corruption.

• 通过这样的情节安排，霍桑和詹姆士把男权主义和女权主义之间不明确的界限，新教教义和天主教教义，以及纯真与堕落之间的矛盾和紧张关系曝露了出来。