The Scarlet Libretto

Act Two. Scene One

36 Act Two Scene One Daylight. The dappled light of the forest on the edge of town. Hester and Pearl, the latter in her red dress, are walking away from town, into the woods. Chillingworth intercepts them. CHILLINGWORTH Why do you walk so quickly, Hester Prynne? Will you consent to speak? Slowly Hester acknowledges that she cannot avoid this meeting. She sends Pearl off to play. During the next few minutes we see the girl playing apart from the central action of the scene. CHILLINGWORTH You look at me with hatred in your eyes. HESTER Pity for a man so changed. You are become a monster, deformed by your desire to ruin someone else. The wisdom I once saw in you has withered like a rotting vine. CHILLINGWORTH I know his name. HESTER What of the name? These many years you’ve lived in an abyss of names. 37 CHILLINGWORTH For justice. HESTER Justice! CHILLINGWORTH I shall reveal the man who put this letter on your heart. HESTER I put the letter here myself. CHILLINGWORTH Not so. The man you would protect pretends to innocence. One word. One word from me and he would fall from his almighty pulpit into the wretched prison cell, then rise up to the gallows. HESTER (steeling herself) Have you not tortured him enough? I’ll warn him, tell him who you truly are. CHILLINGWORTH And break your promise to me? HESTER You may call it justice. CHILLINGWORTH (controlling his rage) Nothing will help you now. Nothing is left for me but hate. 38 HESTER You cannot change the past. CHILLINGWORTH (with a gesture after Pearl) Nor you. Hester, now be warned, as you have scorned my love, your paramour will fall. Chillingworth departs, enraged, toward the town. For a moment Hester is alone. HESTER How was it I once loved a man so full of hate? Sometimes I fear I’ll burn to death of it. But I feel only sorrow. This canopy of trees, these spots of sunlight on the earth, the light and shadow of our life— sorrow, only sorrow. I’ve heard our minister went out before the dawn and may return along this path. Oh may it be the end of sorrow. Pearl approaches, having fashioned a letter A out of grass. She shows it to her mother. My love, what have you made? A toy of justice. And do you know, my love, 39 why your mother wears this letter on her breast? Pearl nods, then skips about, playing. Hester walks with her, and they cross a stream about mid-stage, at an angle to the audience. The man you saw me speaking to believes he knows the answer. Our minister is seen to touch the same place on his heart. Just so. The judgment of the world descends. But now, my love, now is a time to play. Run and catch the sun before the coming fall. Pearl sees something that delights her and chases it offstage, leaping back across the stream as she goes. This canopy of trees once sheltered us in love. Why must we suffer here? What must we prove? Dimmesdale enters, returning toward the town. He holds a hand over his heart, pausing as if to catch his breath. He and Hester notice each other at the same time. DIMMESDALE Hester. Hester Prynne. 40 HESTER Reverend Dimmesdale. DIMMESDALE I dreamed I would find you here. HESTER And I you. DIMMESDALE I’ve come from work among the heathen. HESTER Ah. And did they minister to you? DIMMESDALE No one can help me now. HESTER I would. Dear friend, I would. They have moved slowly closer to each other, warily, keeping on the same side of the brook, each almost disbelieving the other’s bodily existence. DIMMESDALE Hester. Have you found peace? HESTER Have you? DIMMESDALE None. HESTER Surely your ministry? 41 Surely the love of the town, the work you do for good? DIMMESDALE A lie. You alone know who I am, and all these years you would not speak my name, you who bear so openly our sin. HESTER I too have kept an awful secret. That man, that hateful man, the doctor, Roger Chillingworth— long years ago in England he was not the man he is today. He bore another name. He was my husband. Dimmesdale, stunned, slowly...