"'...I might have foreseen all this. I
might have known that, as I came out of the vast and dismal
forest, and entered this settlement of Christian men, the very
first object to meet my eyes would be thyself, Hester Prynne,
standing up, a statue of ignominy, before the people. Nay, from the moment
when we came down the old church-steps together, a married pair,
I might have beheld the bale-fire of that scarlet letter blazing at
the end of our path!'
'Thou knowest,' said Hester,--for, depressed as she
was, she could not endure this last quiet stab at the token of
her shame,--'thou knowest that I was frank with thee. I
felt no love, nor
feigned any.'
'True!' replied he. 'It was my folly! I have said it.
But, up to that epoch of my life, I had lived in vain. The world
had been so cheerless! My heart was a habitation large enough for
many guests, but lonely and chill, and without a household fire.
I longed to kindle one! It seemed not so wild a dream,--old as I
was, and sombre as
I was, and misshapen as I was,--that the simple bliss, which is
scattered far and wide, for all mankind to gather up, might yet
be mine. And so, Hester, I drew thee into my heart, into its
innermost chamber, and sought to warm thee by the warmth which
thy presence made there!'"
In this chapter Roger Chillingworth confronted Hester Prynne in the prison to talk about her unfaithfulness. Chillingworth confessed frankly about his own mistake of marrying a young woman like Hester and his foolishness for not foreseeing the adultery happening. Hester added that she didn't love Roger from the start. Can it in any way relief the severity of adultery? From Hester's angle, she was perhaps lonely just as how Chillingworth felt before he married her, especially when he left her alone in a new home. If all this is that simple, why does adultery still happen today when people can love and marry whoever they want? It's a sad truth that there are just as many unhappy marriages today as centuries ago. Yes, some people still marry for the sake of money, and some get dazzled and confused by love. I don't know the reason, but love and need are complicated things that I suppose no one will be absolutely confident to tell me what and why.
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