Hawthorne lived in New England with a strong religious atmosphere and was deeply influenced by Calvinist religious mysticism. He stood in a conservative position, lacked understanding of the social problems brought about by the development of capitalism, and was not enthusiastic about the booming abolitionist movement at that time. His works can't deeply reflect the essence of society, but look at problems from the abstract point of good and evil and attack social injustice from the perspective of morality and ethics. The representative work The Scarlet Letter is an example, which condemns the cruel customs of American society in the seventeenth century and opposes the hypocritical traditional moral concepts of the bourgeoisie at that time. But at the same time, it comes down to the evil nature of human beings. In art, Hawthorne often alludes to reality with historical stories of colonial period, or highlights the theme through symbols, which has a strong appeal. He is the first writer who pays attention to psychological description in the history of American literature.