| Nathaniel Hawthorne,
"The Scarlet Letter" 霍桑，《紅字》，遠景出版，1988 |
●情節 在獄門外，犯下通姦罪、懷抱私生子的Hester Prynne正準備接受審判。相對於Wilson牧師，新來的年輕牧師Dimmesdale顯的局促不安(3)。在獄中，她的前夫Roger用奇異的語氣想誘她講出「他是誰？」在結束拘禁期後，她不願離開本地，寧願滌清她的罪惡。她作著手工、行慈善，雖然常遭侮辱與歧視(5)。至於天真的小女孩Pearl則有著反抗、高傲、敵視的性格。市長想藉由教育的理由將Pearl字她身邊奪去，為Hester所拒。(8) 老醫生Chilingworth乃學術權威，但不知何故到此鎮上來，彷彿對那年輕牧師有種魔鬼般的圖謀(9)。他總逼問Dimmesdale的內心秘密，不過後者認為，只有「上帝的慈悲」才有此種權力。(10)其實Dimmesdale的靈魂深處有著痛苦，雖然這能使他更具同情理解、禁慾苦行(11)。暗夜中，他來到昔日Hester受辱的地方，恰遇見她與Pearl，三人手牽手，「合成了一個通電流的圓環」，並且在天空中見到了大大的紅色A字。(12) 由於Hester的慈善，大家逐漸寬容了她，把A當作Able，成為修女胸前的十字架，有著內在自由(13)。Chilingworth還告訴她即將拿去A字的好消息。在溪邊，Pearl無意問起A字的源由，還以為是「黑人」所為。(16)這時，Dimmesdale來到，他認為她是幸福的，可以公然地帶著腥紅A，「我的卻在暗中燒灼」。他拒絕了她偕同逃往他處的提議(17)。她認為自己有拋棄過去的自由，遂將那A字拋棄，但Pearl卻害怕了，她只得把它檢起，重新掛回胸前，「他不禁感到一種無可避免的命運重壓在她身上」。(19) 由村里回來後，Dimmesdale屢受內心的邪惡力量所侵擾(20)。在新英倫的節慶中，她注意到他彷彿變了個人(22)。在演說結束後，他竟把她與Pearl一起帶到台上，在上帝與民眾面前，坦承懺悔犯了同樣的罪，如釋重負地戰勝了那醫生邪惡的眼睛，然後當場戲劇性地死去。(23)老醫生不久也死去了，因為他慣有的復仇與憎恨失去了對象；而Hester則繼續留在當地懺悔，成為當地人的心靈牧師(24)。 ●●佳句 ●罪惡 ☉Calm, gentle, passionless, as he appeared, there was yet, we fear, a quiet depth of malice, hitherto latent, but active now, in this unfortunate old man, which led him to imagine a more intimate revenge than any mortal had ever wreaked upon an enemy. To make himself the one trusted friend, to whom should be confided all the fear, the remorse, the agony, the ineffectual repentance, the backward rush of sinful thoughts, expelled in vain! All that guilty sorrow, hidden from the world, whose great heart would have pitied and forgiven, to be revealed to him, the Pitiless--to him, the Unforgiving! All that dark treasure to be lavished on the very man, to whom nothing else could so adequately pay the debt of vengeance!(11) （以窺探好友隱私作為報復） ☉Nothing was more remarkable than the change which took place, almost immediately after Mr. Dimmesdale's death, in the appearance and demeanour of the old man known as Roger Chillingworth. All his strength and energy--all his vital and intellectual force--seemed at once to desert him, insomuch that he positively withered up, shrivelled away and almost vanished from mortal sight, like an uprooted weed that lies wilting in the sun. This unhappy man had made the very principle of his life to consist in the pursuit and systematic exercise revenge; and when, by its completest triumph consummation that evil principle was left with no further material to support it--when, in short, there was no more Devil's work on earth for him to do, it only remained for the unhumanised mortal to betake himself whither his master would find him tasks enough, and pay him his wages duly. But, to all these shadowy beings, so long our near acquaintances--as well Roger Chillingworth as his companions we would fain be merciful. It is a curious subject of observation and inquiry, whether hatred and love be not the same thing at bottom. Each, in its utmost development, supposes a high degree of intimacy and heart-knowledge; each renders one individual dependent for the food of his affections and spiritual fife upon another: each leaves the passionate lover, or the no less passionate hater, forlorn and desolate by the withdrawal of his subject. Philosophically considered, therefore, the two passions seem essentially the same, except that one happens to be seen in a celestial radiance, and the other in a dusky and lurid glow. In the spiritual world, the old physician and the minister--mutual victims as they have been--may, unawares, have found their earthly stock of hatred and antipathy transmuted into golden love.(24)（愛與恨的共生） ●宗教：性 ☉In their eyes, the very ground on which he trod was sanctified. The virgins of his church grew pale around him, victims of a passion so imbued with religious sentiment, that they imagined it to be all religion, and brought it openly, in their white bosoms, as their most acceptable sacrifice before the altar. (11) ☉Satan, that afternoon, had surely led the poor young girl away from her mother's side, and thrown her into the pathway of this sorely tempted, or--shall we not rather say?--this lost and desperate man. As she drew nigh, the arch-fiend whispered him to condense into small compass, and drop into her tender bosom a germ of evil that would be sure to blossom darkly soon, and bear black fruit betimes. Such was his sense of power over this virgin soul, trusting him as she did, that the minister felt potent to blight all the field of innocence with but one wicked look, and develop all its opposite with but a word. (20) 2001.8.18 立人祕密書齋 |