Chapter 13 ANOTHER VIEW OF HESTER
第十三章 海丝特的另一面

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,或者更确切地说,它所代表的社会地位,在海丝特·白兰本人的头脑中,有着强烈而独特的作用。她性格中一切轻松优雅的绿叶,全都因那火红的徽记而枯萎,并且早已落得精光,只剩下了光秃秃的粗糙的轮廓,如果说她还有朋友和伙伴的话,恐怕也早就为此而规避了。就连她人品上的魅力也经历了类似的变化。这可能部分由于她着装上故作严肃简朴,部分因为她举止上有意不动声色。还有一个令人伤感的变化:她那满头丰盈的秀发,不是剪得短短的,就是让一顶帽子完全遮住,以致从来没有一绺在阳光下闪烁。除去这一切原因之外,再加上其它一些因素,看来,在海丝特的面孔上已不再有任何“爱情”可仔细揣摩之处,在海丝特那端庄和雕像般的身材上,不再有任何使“情欲”梦想投入其紧紧拥抱之处,在海丝特的胸膛中也不再有任何能够使“慈爱”落枕之处了。作为一个女性本来不可或缺的某些秉性,在她身上已不复存在。当女人遭遇井经受了一场非同一般的苛刻的惩罚时,她那女性的品格通常会遭受这种命运并经历这种严峻的变化。如果她只有柔情,她就会死掉。如果她侥幸活下去,她的柔情要么从她身上给排挤出去,要么在她心中给深深碾碎,永远不再表露出来。这两种情况在外人看来没什么不同,而后者或许更符合实际。她既然曾经是女人,虽然一时不再是女人,但只消有魔法点化一下,完全可以随时重新变成女人的。我们将要看到海丝特·白兰以后会不会受到这种点化,再变成女人。

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.
海丝特给人的那种如大理石般冰冷的印象,大部要归咎于这一事实:她的生活,在很大程度上已经从情和欲变成了思想。她形只影单地立足于世上——孤独得对社会无所依靠,只有小珠儿需要她指点和保护,——孤独得对恢复她的地位已不抱希望,即使她还没有鄙夷这种愿望,但是她已把断裂的锁链的碎片全然抛弃了。人世间的法律并非她心目中的法律。当年正处于人类智慧初获解放的时代,比起以前的许多世纪,有着广阔得多的天地任其驰骋。手执利剑的人已经推翻了王室贵胄。比他们更勇敢的人,则将与古代准则密切相关的古代偏见的完整体系,并非实际地,而是在理论范围之内——这是那些王室贵胃真正的藏身之地——予以颠覆并重新安排了。海丝特·白兰汲取了这一精神。她采取了思想自由的观点,这在当年的大西洋彼岸本是再普通不过的事,但设若我们的移民祖先们对这种自由思想有所了解的话,她的观点会被认为比红字烙印所代表的罪恶还要致命的。在她那独处海边的茅舍里,拜访她的那些思想是不敢进入新英格兰的其它住宅的;假如有人看见这些影子般的客人轻叩她的门扉的话,就会把接待他们的主人视同魔鬼般危险了。