It is remarkable, that persons who speculate the most boldly often conform with the most perfect quietude to the external regulations of society. The thought suffices them, without investing itself in the flesh and blood of action. So it seemed to be with Hester. Yet, had little Pearl never come to her from the spiritual world, it might have been far otherwise. Then, she might have come down to us in history, hand in hand with Ann Hutchinson, as the foundress of a religious sect. She might, in one of her phases, have been a prophetess. She might, and not improbably would, have suffered death from the stern tribunals of the period, for attempting to undermine the foundations of the Puritan establishment. But, in the education of her child, the mother's enthusiasm of thought had something to wreak itself upon. Providence, in the person of this little girl, had assigned to Hester's charge the germ and blossom of womanhood, to be cherished and developed amid a host of difficulties. Everything was against her. The world was hostile. The child's own nature had something wrong in it, which continually betokened that she had been born amiss- the effluence of her mother's lawless passion- and often impelled Hester to ask, in bitterness of heart, whether it were for ill or good that the poor little creature had been born at all.
值得重视的是，那些具有最大胆的思想观点的人，对于外界的清规戒律也最能泰然处之。他们满足于思想观点，并不想赋予其行动的血肉。海丝特的情况似乎就是这样。不过，假若小珠儿未曾从精神世界来到她身边的话，她的情况也许就会大不一样了。那样的话，她也许会同安妮·哈钦逊携手并肩，作为一个教派的创始人，名标青史。她也许会在自己的某一时期成为一名女先知。她也许会——并非不可能——因企图颠覆清教制度的基础，而被当时严厉的法官处以死刑。但她的思想热情，因为她成了母亲，得以在教育孩子之中宣泄出去。上天把这小女孩交付给海丝特，就是要她保护女性的幼芽和蓓蕾，在众多的困难中加以抚育和培养。一切都与她作对。世界在以她为敌。孩子的本性中含有欠妥之处，不断表明她降临到这个世界上是个错误——是她母亲无视法律的激情的发泄，而且时常迫使海丝特辛酸地扪心自问：这个可怜的小家伙降生到世上，究竟是祸还是福。

Indeed, the same dark question often rose into her mind, with reference to the whole race of womanhood. Was existence worth accepting, even to the happiest among them? As concerned her own individual existence, she had long ago decided in the negative, and dismissed the point as settled. A tendency to speculation, though it may keep woman quiet, as it does man, yet makes her sad. She discerns, it may be, such a hopeless task before her. As a first step, the whole system of society is to be torn down, and built up anew. Then, the very nature of the opposite sex, or its long hereditary habit, which has become like nature, is to be essentially modified, before woman can be allowed to assume what seems a fair and suitable position. Finally, all other difficulties being obviated, woman cannot take advantage of these preliminary reforms, until she herself shall have undergone a still mightier change; in which, perhaps, the ethereal essence, wherein she has her truest life, will be found to have evaporated. A woman never overcomes these problems by any exercise of thought. They are not to be solved, or only in one way. If her heart chance to come uppermost, they vanish. Thus, Hester Prynne, whose heart had lost its regular and healthy throb, wandered without a clew in the dark labyrinth of mind; now turned aside by an insurmountable precipice; now starting back from a deep chasm. There was wild and ghastly scenery all around her, and a home and comfort nowhere. At times, a fearful doubt strove to possess her soul, whether it were not better to send Pearl at once to heaven, and go herself to such futurity as Eternal Justice should provide.
事实上，她心中也时常升腾起涉及全人类女性的同样阴郁的问题：即使对女性中最幸福的人来说，那人的生存有价值吗？至于她自己本人的生存，她早已予以否定，并且作为已决之点不再重提。勤于思考，虽说可以对女人起到和对男人相同的作用——使人安静下来，但却使她感到伤感。也许她已经看清了自己面临的任务是无望的。首先，整个社会制度要彻底推翻并予以重建。其次，男人的本性，或者说由于世代沿袭的习惯面变得象是本性的东西，应该从本质上加以改变，然后妇女才可能取得似是公平合理的地位。最后，即使排除掉一切其它困难，妇女也必须先进行一番自身的更有力的变化，才能享有这些初步改革的成果，然而到那时，，凝聚着她的女性的最真实的生命的精髓，或许巳然蒸发殆尽了。一个女人，无论如何运用她的思维，也无法解决这些问题。或许只有一条出路才能解决这些问题：如果她的精神能够主宰一切，这些问题便会不复存在。然面，由于海丝特·白兰的心脏已经不再有规律而健康的搏动，她便只有茫无头绪地徘徊在思考的幽暗迷宫之中：时而因无法攀越的峭壁而转弯，时而因深陷的断层而返回。她周围是一道恐怖的野景，四处不见舒适的家园。不时有一种可怕的疑虑攫佐她的灵魂，不知是否该把珠儿马上送上天庭，自己也走向“永恒的裁判”所断定的来世，才更好些。