Chapter 13 ANOTHER VIEW OF HESTER
第十三章 海絲特的另一面

The effect of the symbol- or, rather, of the position in respect to society that was indicated by it- on the mind of Hester Prynne herself, was powerful and peculiar. All the light and graceful foliage of her character had been withered up by this red-hot brand, and had long ago fallen away, leaving a bare and harsh outline, which might have been repulsive, had she possessed friends or companions to be repelled by it. Even the attractiveness of her person had undergone a similar change. It might be partly owing to the studied austerity of her dress, and partly to the lack of demonstration in her manners. It was a sad transformation, too, that her rich and luxuriant hair had either been cut off, or was so completely hidden by a cap, that not a shining lock of it ever once gushed into the sunshine. It was due in part to all these causes, but still more to something else, that there seemed to be no longer anything in Hester's face for Love to dwell upon; nothing in Hester's form, though majestic and statue-like, that Passion would ever dream of clasping in its embrace; nothing in Hester's bosom, to make it ever again the pillow of Affection. Some attribute had departed from her, the permanence of which had been essential to keep her a woman. Such is frequently the fate, and such the stern development, of the feminine character and person, when the woman has encountered, and lived through, an experience of peculiar severity. If she be all tenderness, she will die. If she survive, the tenderness will either be crushed out of her, or- and the outward semblance is the same- crushed so deeply into her heart that it can never show itself more. The latter is perhaps the truest theory. She who has once been woman, and ceased to be so, might at any moment become a woman again, if there were only the magic touch to effect the transfiguration. We shall see whether Hester Prynne were afterwards so touched, and so transfigured.
那象征物,或者更確切地說(shuō),它所代表的社會(huì)地位,在海絲特·白蘭本人的頭腦中,有著強(qiáng)烈而獨(dú)特的作用。她性格中一切輕松優(yōu)雅的綠葉,全都因那火紅的徽記而枯萎,并且早已落得精光,只剩下了光禿禿的粗糙的輪廓,如果說(shuō)她還有朋友和伙伴的話,恐怕也早就為此而規(guī)避了。就連她人品上的魅力也經(jīng)歷了類似的變化。這可能部分由于她著裝上故作嚴(yán)肅簡(jiǎn)樸,部分因?yàn)樗e止上有意不動(dòng)聲色。還有一個(gè)令人傷感的變化:她那滿頭豐盈的秀發(fā),不是剪得短短的,就是讓一頂帽子完全遮住,以致從來(lái)沒(méi)有一綹在陽(yáng)光下閃爍。除去這一切原因之外,再加上其它一些因素,看來(lái),在海絲特的面孔上已不再有任何“愛(ài)情”可仔細(xì)揣摩之處,在海絲特那端莊和雕像般的身材上,不再有任何使“情欲”夢(mèng)想投入其緊緊擁抱之處,在海絲特的胸膛中也不再有任何能夠使“慈愛(ài)”落枕之處了。作為一個(gè)女性本來(lái)不可或缺的某些秉性,在她身上已不復(fù)存在。當(dāng)女人遭遇井經(jīng)受了一場(chǎng)非同一般的苛刻的懲罰時(shí),她那女性的品格通常會(huì)遭受這種命運(yùn)并經(jīng)歷這種嚴(yán)峻的變化。如果她只有柔情,她就會(huì)死掉。如果她僥幸活下去,她的柔情要么從她身上給排擠出去,要么在她心中給深深碾碎,永遠(yuǎn)不再表露出來(lái)。這兩種情況在外人看來(lái)沒(méi)什么不同,而后者或許更符合實(shí)際。她既然曾經(jīng)是女人,雖然一時(shí)不再是女人,但只消有魔法點(diǎn)化一下,完全可以隨時(shí)重新變成女人的。我們將要看到海絲特·白蘭以后會(huì)不會(huì)受到這種點(diǎn)化,再變成女人。

Much of the marble coldness of Hester's impression was to be attributed to the circumstance, that her life had turned, in a great measure, from passion and feeling, to thought. Standing alone in the world- alone, as to any dependence on society, and with little Pearl to be guided and protected- alone, and hopeless of retrieving her position, even had she not scorned to consider it desirable- she cast away the fragments of a broken chain. The world's law was no law for her mind. It was an age in which the human intellect, newly emancipated, had taken a more active and a wider range than for many centuries before. Men of the sword had overthrown nobles and kings. Men bolder than these had overthrown and rearranged- not actually, but within the sphere of theory, which was their most real abode- the whole system of ancient prejudice, wherewith was linked much of ancient principle. Hester Prynne imbibed this spirit. She assumed a freedom of speculation, then common enough on the other side of the Atlantic, but which our forefathers, had they known it, would have held to be a deadlier crime than that stigmatised by the scarlet letter. In her lonesome cottage by the seashore, thoughts visited her, such as dared to enter no other dwelling in New England; shadowy guests, that would have been as perilous as demons to their entertainer could they have been seen so much as knocking at her door.
海絲特給人的那種如大理石般冰冷的印象,大部要?dú)w咎于這一事實(shí):她的生活,在很大程度上已經(jīng)從情和欲變成了思想。她形只影單地立足于世上——孤獨(dú)得對(duì)社會(huì)無(wú)所依靠,只有小珠兒需要她指點(diǎn)和保護(hù),——孤獨(dú)得對(duì)恢復(fù)她的地位已不抱希望,即使她還沒(méi)有鄙夷這種愿望,但是她已把斷裂的鎖鏈的碎片全然拋棄了。人世間的法律并非她心目中的法律。當(dāng)年正處于人類智慧初獲解放的時(shí)代,比起以前的許多世紀(jì),有著廣闊得多的天地任其馳騁。手執(zhí)利劍的人已經(jīng)推翻了王室貴胄。比他們更勇敢的人,則將與古代準(zhǔn)則密切相關(guān)的古代偏見(jiàn)的完整體系,并非實(shí)際地,而是在理論范圍之內(nèi)——這是那些王室貴胃真正的藏身之地——予以顛覆并重新安排了。海絲特·白蘭汲取了這一精神。她采取了思想自由的觀點(diǎn),這在當(dāng)年的大西洋彼岸本是再普通不過(guò)的事,但設(shè)若我們的移民祖先們對(duì)這種自由思想有所了解的話,她的觀點(diǎn)會(huì)被認(rèn)為比紅字烙印所代表的罪惡還要致命的。在她那獨(dú)處海邊的茅舍里,拜訪她的那些思想是不敢進(jìn)入新英格蘭的其它住宅的;假如有人看見(jiàn)這些影子般的客人輕叩她的門(mén)扉的話,就會(huì)把接待他們的主人視同魔鬼般危險(xiǎn)了。