| ANOTHER VIEW OF HESTER 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 ion 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 a woman, and ceased to be so, might at any moment become a woman again, if there were only the magic touch to effect the transformation. We shall see whether Hester Prynne were ever afterwards so touched and so transfigured.
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 ion 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 fragment 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.
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 ion—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.
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 women 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 clue 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. The scarlet letter had not done its office. Now, however, her interview with the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale, on the night of his vigil, had given her a new theme of reflection, and held up to her an object that appeared worthy of any exertion and sacrifice for its attainment. She had witnessed the intense misery beneath which the minister struggled, or, to speak more accurately, had ceased to struggle. She saw that he stood on the verge of lunacy, if he had not already stepped across it. It was impossible to doubt that, whatever painful efficacy there might be in the secret sting of remorse, a deadlier venom had been infused into it by the hand that proffered relief. A secret enemy had been continually by his side, under the semblance of a friend and helper, and had availed himself of the opportunities thus afforded for tampering with the delicate springs of Mr. Dimmesdale's nature. Hester could not but ask herself whether there had not originally been a defect of truth, courage, and loyalty on her own part, in allowing the minister to be thrown into a position where so much evil was to be foreboded and nothing auspicious to be hoped. Her only justification lay in the fact that she had been able to discern no method of rescuing him from a blacker ruin than had overwhelmed herself except by acquiescing in Roger Chillingworth's scheme of disguise. Under that impulse she had made her choice, and had chosen, as it now appeared, the more wretched alternative of the two. She determined to redeem her error so far as it might yet be possible. Strengthened by years of hard and solemn trial, she felt herself no longer so inadequate to cope with Roger Chillingworth as on that night, abased by sin and half-maddened by the ignominy that was still new, when they had talked together in the prison-chamber. She had climbed her way since then to a higher point. The old man, on the other hand, had brought himself nearer to her level, or, perhaps, below it, by the revenge which he had stooped for.
In fine, Hester Prynne resolved to meet her former husband, and do what might be in her power for the rescue of the victim on whom he had so evidently set his gripe. The occasion was not long to seek. One afternoon, walking with Pearl in a retired part of the peninsula, she beheld the old physician with a basket on one arm and a staff in the other hand, stooping along the ground in quest of roots and herbs to concoct his medicine withal. |
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OTRO MODO DE JUZGAR a ESTER El efecto de la divisa, o mejor dicho, de la posicin que sta indicaba con respecto a la sociedad, fue poderoso y peculiar en el nimo de Ester. Toda la gracia y ligereza de su espritu haban desaparecido a influjos de esta funesta letra, dejando solamente algo ostensiblemente rudo y tosco, que habra podido hasta ser repulsivo para sus amigas o compaeras, a haberlas tenido. Los atractivos fsicos de su persona haban experimentado un cambio igual; quiz debido en parte a la seriedad de su traje, y en parte a la sequedad de sus maneras. Tambin fue una triste transformacin la que experiment su hermosa y esplndida cabellera que, o haba sido cortada, o estaba tan completamente oculta bajo su gorra, que ni siquiera se alcanzaba a ver uno solo de sus rizos. En consecuencia de todas estas causas, pero aun mucho ms debido a algo desconocido, pareca que no haba ya en el rostro de Ester nada que pudiera atraer las miradas del amor; nada en la figura de Ester, aunque majestuosa y semejante a una estatua, que despertara en la pasin el anhelo de estrecharla entre sus brazos; nada en el corazn de Ester que pudiera responder a los latidos amorosos de otro corazn. Algo haba desaparecido en ella, algo completamente femenino, como acontece con frecuencia cuando la mujer ha pasado por pruebas de una severidad peculiar: porque si ella es toda ternura, esto le costar la vida; y si sobreviviere a estas pruebas, entonces esa ternura o tiene que extinguirse por completo, o reconcentrarse tan hondamente en el corazn, que jams se podr mostrar de nuevo. Tal vez esto ltimo sea lo ms exacto. La que una vez fue una verdadera mujer, y ha cesado de serlo, puede a cada instante recobrar sus atributos femeninos, si solamente viene el toque mgico que efecte la transfiguracin. Ya veremos si Ester Prynne recibi ms tarde ese toque mgico y qued transfigurada.
Mucha parte de la frialdad marmrea de que pareca estar dotada Ester, debe atribuirse a la circunstancia de que se haba operado un gran cambio en su vida, reinando ahora el pensamiento donde antes reinaban la pasin y los sentimientos. Estando sola en el mundo, sola en cuanto a depender de la sociedad, y con la pequea Perla a quien guiar y proteger,—sola y sin esperanzas de mejorar su posicin, aunque no hubiera desdeado semejante idea,—arroj lejos de s los fragmentos de una cadena hecha pedazos. La ley universal no era la ley de su espritu. Viva adems en una poca en que la inteligencia humana, recientemente emancipada, haba desplegado mayor actividad y entrado en una esfera ms vasta de accin que lo que haba hecho durante muchos siglos. Nobles y tronos haban sido derrocados por los hombres de la espada; y antiguas preocupaciones haban sido destruidas por hombres aun ms atrevidos que aquellos. Ester se haba penetrado de este espritu puramente moderno, adoptando una libertad de especulacin, comn entonces al otro lado del Atlntico, pero que, a haber tenido noticia de ello nuestros antepasados, lo habran juzgado un pecado ms mortal que el que estigmatizaron con la letra escarlata. En su cabaa solitaria, a orillas del mar, la visitaban ideas y pensamientos tales, como no era posible que se atrevieran a penetrar en otra morada de la Nueva Inglaterra: huspedes invisibles, que habran sido tan peligrosos para los que les daban entrada en su espritu, como si se les hubiera visto en trato familiar con el enemigo del gnero humano.
Es digno de notarse que las personas que se entregan a las ms atrevidas especulaciones mentales, son con frecuencia tambin las que ms tranquilamente se conforman a las leyes externas de la sociedad. El pensamiento les basta, sin que traten de convertirlo en accin. As parece que pasaba con Ester. Sin embargo, si no hubiera tenido a Perla, las cosas habran sido muy diferentes. Entonces tal vez su nombre brillara hoy en la Historia como la fundadora de una secta religiosa a par de Ana Hutchinson: quizs habra sido una especie de profetisa; pero probablemente los severos tribunales de la poca la habran condenado a muerte por intentar destruir los fundamentos en que descansaba la colonia puritana. Pero en la educacin de su hija, la osada de sus pensamientos haba abatido en gran parte su entusiasta vuelo. En la persona de su niita, la Providencia le haba asignado a Ester la tarea de hacer que germinaran y florecieran, en medio de grandes dificultades, los ms dignos atributos de la mujer. Todo estaba en contra de la madre: el mundo le era hostil; la naturaleza misma de la nia tena algo perverso en su esencia, que haca recordar continuamente que en su nacimiento haba presidido la culpa,—el resultado de la pasin desordenada de la madre,—y repetidas veces se preguntaba Ester con amargura si esta criaturita haba venido al mundo para bien o para mal.
Verdad es que la misma pregunta se haca respecto al gnero humano en general. Vala la pena aceptar la existencia, aun a los ms felices entre los mortales? Por lo que a ella misma tocaba, tiempo haca que la haba contestado por la negativa, dando el punto por completamente terminado. La tendencia a la especulacin, aunque puede verter la calma en el espritu de la mujer, como sucede con el hombre, la vuelve sin embargo triste, pues acaso ve ante s una tarea irrealizable. Primeramente, todo el edificio social tiene que derribarse, y reconstruirse todo de nuevo; luego, la naturaleza del hombre tiene que modificarse esencialmente antes de permitrsele a la mujer que ocupe lo que parece ser una posicin justa y adecuada; y, finalmente, aun despus de allanadas todas las otras dificultades, la mujer no podr aprovecharse de todas estas reformas preliminares hasta que ella misma haya experimentado un cambio radical, en el cual, quiz, la esencia etrea, que constituye el alma verdaderamente femenina, se habra evaporado por completo. Una mujer nunca resuelve estos problemas con el mero uso del pensamiento: son irresolubles, o solamente pueden resolverse de una manera. Si por casualidad prepondera el corazn, los problemas se desvanecen. Ester, cuyo corazn, por decirlo as, haba perdido su ritmo regular y saludable, vagaba errante, sin luz que la guiase, en el sombro laberinto de su espritu; y a veces se apoderaba de ella la duda terrible de si no sera mejor enviar cuanto antes a Perla al cielo, y presentarse ella tambin a aceptar el destino a que la Eterna Justicia la creyese acreedora. La letra escarlata no haba llenado el objeto a que se la destin.
Ahora, sin embargo, su entrevista con el Reverendo Sr. Dimmesdale en la noche de la vigilia de ste, la haba proporcionado nueva materia de reflexiones, presentndole en perspectiva un objeto digno de toda clase de esfuerzos y sacrificios para conseguirlo. Haba presenciado el suplicio intenso bajo el cual luchaba el ministro, , para hablar con ms propiedad, haba cesado de luchar. Vio que se encontraba al borde de la locura, si es que ya su razn no se haba hundido. Era imposible dudar que, por mucha que fuese la eficacia dolorosa de un punzante y secreto remordimiento, un veneno mucho ms mortfero le haba sido istrado por la misma mano que pretenda curarle. Bajo la capa de amigo y favorecedor mdico, haba constantemente a su lado un secreto enemigo que se aprovechaba de las oportunidades que as se le presentasen para tocar, con malvada intencin, todos los resortes de la naturaleza delicada del Sr. Dimmesdale. Ester no poda menos de preguntarse si no fue desde el principio una falta de valor, de sinceridad y de lealtad de parte suya, permitir que el ministro se encontrara en una situacin de la que nada bueno, y s mucho malo, podra esperarse. Su nica justificacin era la imposibilidad en que haba estado de hallar otro medio de librarle de una ruina aun ms terrible de la que a ella le haba cado en suerte. Lo nico posible fue acceder al plan del disfraz de Roger Chillingworth. Movida de esta idea, se decidi, entonces, como ahora lo comprenda, por el partido peor que pudiera haber adoptado. Determin, por lo tanto, remediar su error hasta donde le fuera posible. Fortalecida por aos de rudas pruebas, ya no se senta tan incapacitada para luchar con Roger como la noche aquella en que, abatida por el pecado, y medio loca por la ignominia a que acababa de ser expuesta, tuvo con l la entrevista en el cuarto de la prisin. Desde entonces, su espritu se haba ido remontando a mayores alturas; mientras que el anciano mdico haba ido descendiendo al nivel de Ester, o quizs muy por debajo de ella, merced a la idea de venganza de que se hallaba posedo.
En una palabra, Ester resolvi tener una nueva entrevista con su antiguo marido, y hacer cuanto estuviera en su poder para salvar a la vctima de que evidentemente se haba apoderado. La ocasin no tard en presentarse. Una tarde, pasendose con Perla en un sitio retirado en las cercanas de su cabaa, vio al viejo mdico con un cesto en una mano, y un bastn en la otra, buscando hierbas y races para confeccionar sus remedios y medicinas. |
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