My brother Metacomet,
may the noble spirit
of your father, Massasoit,
soar with the eagles.
Chief Metacomet.
Thanks to
the friendship of your father, we have survived here.
My father should have let you
die!
You are
the only one
who comes to us
with an open heart.
But your people have murdered
my father
with their lies!
My name is Pearl.
This is the story of my mother, Hester Prynne.
It was the year of our Lord 1666,
when she arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony
filled with the hope that at last, in this new world
would come the freedom to worship without fear of persecution.
My esteemed colleague!
Thy years of toil become thee!
Thy fame preceeds thee, sir.
Governor Bellingham,
may I present
the Reverend Thomas Cheever.
Welcome, sir. It's a long voyage.
3 months at sea,
will either take away your faith, or harden it to iron.
Allow me to introduce a woman who's been travelling with us,
- Mistress... - Hester Prynne.
I apologize for the coarseness
of my hands, Mistress.
But here in the colonies, everyone must work.
I look forward to the hard work.
It says in Psalm 92: "I will triumph in the work of thy hands".
Thou canst quote the Scriptures.
Aye, Reverend, both Testaments. My husband taught me.
You must rest.
Then I'll show you what's been accomplished.
I thank thee.
- Then it's Goodwife Prynne. - Yes, yes.
But I prefer to be called Hester.
Welcome, Hester.
I wish I could've seen it before,
when it was wild and untouched.
Madam,
you should use less lace in your dressmaking.
Indeed, Reverend.
Master of us all,
we give thanks for another bountiful meal,
and for newly arrived disciples,
that share it with us this night.
- Amen. - Amen.
So, Governor.
I am impatient to know how you fared with Metacomet.
Well, Metacomet isn't Massassoit, Major Dunsmuir.
But if we respect the agreements we made with his father,
we've nothing to fear.
So we don't grow complacent,
our wise God sends us a sign.
When we sailed,
your letters said we were at peace with the savage.
Well,
I fear the days of "peace" with the Wampanoag is at an end.
Major,
we are frightening our new arrival.
We hear much
of your success with the praying Indians.
I'm very eager to meet Reverend Dimmesdale
and his converts.
The runts of the litter.
Dimmesdale's little treasures!
Some of us have other opinions.
Mistress Prynne,
I hope you'll stay with us
until your husband's arrival.
You're most kind, but I intend to find
a house of my own as soon as possible.
On thine own?
Why, yes.
It's not considered fitting for a young woman to live alone.
I've come first to prepare a place for his arrival,
so that is what I intend to do.
Mistress Prynne.
The rules we live by may seem arbitrary to a newcomer,
but we have learnt the hard way
that without absolute order,
we cannot hope to survive here.
Rules, Mistress Prynne.
Order.
Survival.
Would you have me disobey my husband?
- I... - Reverend, you might enjoy
the company of my son, Brewster.
He studied Divinity.
Harvard wasn't good enough for him,
so he came home to make his fortune as a...
Minister's sons all moaning the Lord's Prayer
in their sleep.
Everyone must find his place.
- Morning, Mistress Prynne. - Good morrow.
So you intend on scandalising the town!
Get up!
Good!
I confess,
I feel alone in a sea of conformists.
Where should we begin our search?
On the cliffs by the sea.
No, it's out of the question.
Why?
No one's lived by the sea
since the Indians wiped out Ballinger's Point.
I say we start there.
Well, if you've decided.
Is that it, Brewster?
It's beautiful.
I tried to imagine what her life was like
before she came to the new world.
Why did her husband send her on ahead,
alone?
Was it a test of her loyalty,
or her spirit?
Or was it in his nature to set traps
for people in the hope they would fall into them?
It's perfect!
With a cart and a musket, I could have a home here!
A cart, a horse,
a pitchfork, a plow.
I can think of better things
to do with these pretty hands than grow calluses on them.
I'll need indentured labor, at least two men.
- The land needs draining. - You are headstrong.
Perhaps it runs in the blood.
I'm told your father was too.
Is it true
he was in debt to your husband and you were the payment?
I've said something to disturb you.
I'm sorry.
I'm truly sorry.
God, thou art wondrous fair!
That hurt!
Good. It'll remind you not to do it again.
Faith? Prudence?
Did you hear Mistress Prynne has a bathing tub?
What is she, French?
2 Shillings. Will you bid 2 shillings?
2 and a half?
Come on, gentlemen, do I have a bid for 3 shillings?
3 shillings?
Anyone else? Anyone else?
Going for 3 shillings. Any other bids?
Sold to the gentleman for 3 shillings.
- Next we have this other one, - Those two.
How much time left on their indenture?
About 3 years, but,
shouldn't your husband or father be doing business with me?
Is my money no good to you, sir?
Your money's as fine as wine in the sunshine, Mistress.
If you buy them at a just price, I'll throw in the girl in red.
She's a slave!
But she don't speak, if that be a problem. Born that way.
Name your just price.
We'd best accompany you if your going to the forest.
Don't worry Mr Bobbin. I shan't go far.
Mistress Prynne? Mistress Prynne?
Where are you?
Mistress Prynne, where are you?
I found her.
- You did not. - I did to.
Mistress Prynne,
Have you forgotten it is the Sabbath?
Of course not. Forgive me.
We've come by especially to bring you to church.
Thank you, so much.
Please, go on without me.
I will follow at once.
Make haste.
Yes, sir.
All right, girl,
Come on.
Oh goodnes!
Back up. Back up.
Come on now, back up.
Come on. Come on. Back up.
Good morrow.
May I be of assistance?
Not from up there.
Come on.
Steady. Steady.
I can't make this horse understand me.
Let me try.
Come on, girl.
Come on, back up!
Come on, girl.
Come on. Come on.
I'm afraid you're in too deep.
She'll not make it. Let me try this.
I do hope you can get it free.
I'm already late for the service, and everyone's talking about me.
I've been away and I'm quite behind on local gossip.
I bought the old Newbury place out on Ballinger's Point.
Then,
I owe you an apology.
I've been trespassing.
There's a place at the point where I like to bath.
Really? Well, I shan't charge too steep a tariff.
Come on, girl, back up!
- Back up. - One,
Two,
Two. Three.
I'm afraid this cart will be stuck here until Sabbath next
unless I gather hands to help.
Would you care to ride with me?
On your horse, with you?
Aye, unless you can ride.
I can ride.
You take my horse and I'll take yours.
There's a shortcut to the meeting house,
but it's a difficult road.
I shall manage, sir.
- Are you certain? - Just you lead the way.
Come on! Come on!
May God be with you.
I'm sure he already is.
But aren't you coming to...
Good Sabbath to ye all.
Friends,
and fellow voyagers,
in the greatest of all dreams.
We've been singled out, like Israel of old,
to serve as a model.
But if we are to succeed
in building our new Jerusalem,
our "City on a Hill",
then the power of love,
yea, His Divine Love,
we must bind our hearts as one!
English and Indian,
gentry and indentured, free man and slaves,
and make of us
an example for all the world,
to marvel at and proclaim:
"Here...
is the measure of perfection!
Here,
lives God's own!"
But we are not succeeding in that test.
We are failing! And why?
Because we covet, nay,
we lust after what is not ours.
Be it for the rich land of our Indian brothers,
be it for glory,
for profits or for revenge.
Need I read the secret
of every heart?
I will if you want.
Yea, I will if you want.
I will lay open the secrets
before the eyes of God!
What thou lusteth after is my enemy, sayeth the Lord God.
For only I shall consume thee,
only I shall fill thee up.
If thou failest to heed my commandments,
then my fist
shall descend on thee like a stone!
And thy sword shall cut thee into bloody parts,
and even thy memories shall be sacrificed
to the winds for all time!
May God bless you,
each and every one of you.
Amén.
Allow me to present a newcomer to our congregation,
Mistress Roger Prynne.
Mistress Roger?
Aye, her husband, a renowned physician will join her before...
Reverend Dimmesdale and I have already...
I helped when her cart got stuck in the woods.
I greatly enjoyed your sermon.
It's rare for a man so young to speak with such passion.
For some reason,
I felt most inspired today.
We welcome you and your husband to our congregation.
Mother! Mother!
There you are, Hester.
Meet my friend, Running Moose. He's our schoolmaster.
And I'm sure you'd like some refreshment.
Do you teach the English children as well Mr Running Moose?
They call me John or Johnny here.
We try our best, but the English are a bit slow-witted.
Slow-witted?
Johnny's a bit of a jester, but he was our first praying Indian.
My best friend in the colony.
Arthur,
- this is Mistress... - We've already met.
Excuse me.
So like home.
Yet beyond those trees I suspect a savagery,
of savage passions,
dark and untamed.
Reverend Dimmesdale, have you met our young friend?
Yes, we've met.
Mistress Prynne and I traveled out on the same ship.
I'm going to marry him one day.
No you're not, I'm going to aren't I, Mistress Prynne?
- Marry whom? - Reverend Dimmesdale, of course!
"A Short Description of the Great and Last Judgement".
Well, "Platform for Church Discipline".
They're all tracts!
"The Goodwife's Manual..."
for Animal Husbandry"
I believe we've already met.
Oh, yes, I... I'm sorry, I didn't realize.
I should have announced my presence.
What are you reading?
- "Comus", it's by John - John Milton.
I know it. I've read it.
Have you?
I'm not all counterpanes and coverlets.
Every spare moment, I read.
I'm the same.
I've read every book in this room. Some of them several times.
Even "Manual for Animal Husbandry?"
A most exhiliarating read.
So, did you truly enjoy my sermon?
Yes, it was most skilful.
Clearly your congregation reverences you.
You liked it not. We don't come up to London standards.
To the contrary. I was moved by your passion.
And?
Well,
when your fist struck your hand,
and sliced through the air like a sword,
I found myself wondering
what manner of pain lay beneath such forceful oratory.
Your tongue knows no rules, Mistress Prynne.
And if it did, Reverend,
what purpose would it serve?
And here I thought comprehending God
was to be my greatest challenge.
Yes, Reverend?
This morning in the forest,
why did you not say you were married?
Why did you not say you were a minister?
Good day, Mistress Prynne.
Good morrow, Mistress Prynne.
Good morrow.
You care for a cup of cider?
We are your neighbours, it seems.
Did you like the sermon this morning?
From where I sat it seemed it did please thee.
I liked it very much.
I thought the young minister very...
Handsome?
Harriet Hibbons.
Ruth?
How do you do?
Come and meet some of the others who were not invited
to the Governer's shindig.
Sally Short, Mistress Prynne.
How do you do?
I was on the dock when you arrived.
Mary Rollins.
Mary don't like to speak much.
She's only been free from the savages this half year.
And Matona don't trust the English, do you dear?
Mistress Prynne?
Thank you, no. I never imbibe.
You've gathered some fine Balm of Gilead,
Shepherd's Purse, yarrow.
You know your plants?
I do. I recite "Culpepper" by heart.
Really?
Then what would you use to heal a bad burn?
I've seen sweet fern work miracles,
but Culpepper suggests blackberry and red cedar.
Well, you hear that.
My husband has a very large library
and I was able to school myself.
How do you like our new Jerusalem?
Sober enough for you?
Aye,
sober enough.
What I miss is the dancing.
Dancing?
When first we came,
they'd be dancing round the maypole.
Feast days we'd sing bawdy songs.
People weren't afraid to play the fool.
We'd teach the bears to dance.
Now days, everybody getting more and more sourfaced and ponderous.
And a whipping post stands where the maypole used to be.
But there's a few of us who haven't forgotten to laugh.
It's been a pleasure meeting you all.
I'm sorry I must take my leave,
but I don't want to be stuck in the wilds at night.
There are things that sound to me,
the wilds at night are my natural territory.
Particulary when there's a full moon.
Do you try to frighten me with this witch talk?
Not so, Mistress Prynne.
But I can see what others cannot.
Be a curse, to be sure,
but I know the hearts of men.
And what does my heart tell you?
You're a most comely woman.
Let a man tremble who wins the hand of a maid,
but possesses not the full passion of her heart.
My husband has nothing to fear.
Good day Mistress Hibbons.
Good day, Mistress Prynne.
Good day, Goody Gotwick.
I brought these for Reverend Dimmesdale.
The Reverend be occupied with his work, Missus.
Leave them books on the table and I'll be sure he gets them.
Good morrow, Reverend.
Good morrow, Mistress Prynne.
Knowing you hunger for new reading,
I brought you some books.
How courteous of you.
Please.
I must apologize for my forthrightness on Sabbath last.
I've earned a few reprimands for speaking too bluntly.
I owe an apology, too.
I can't understand why I took such offence
to such a simple comment.
But I have wondered
how you were able
to see so deeply
into my nature.
Perhaps I'm a witch.
I must be keeping you from your chores.
Thank you for the books.
Good day.
I'm sorry. My hands are covered in ink.
I've been
hovered over my translations all day.
Translations?
Aye. I'm attempting to
translate the Bible into the local Indian language,
Algonquin.
What an ambitious undertaking.
But I'm told the Indians don't want to be guided by our Bible.
That war with them is inevitable.
Some think that way, but they're wrong.
The Indians, born from a certain liberty,
take not easily to bridle and bit.
No man should.
Well...
What?
You keep putting ink on your face.
Oh, I do.
There you are.
I do hope you enjoy the books.
Thank you.
Good day.
Mituba?
'Tis only a bathing tub, not a toy of Satan.
Mistress Prynne?
Reverend Dimmesdale!
- You frightened me. - I'm sorry. I didn't mean to.
It's a wonderful surprise.
- It's beautiful. - Yes, and frightening.
Just as Eden must have been.
So untouched.
Does it not cry out with it's promise,
that everything can begin anew?
I brought back your books.
You couldn't have read them all in four days.
Oh no, I did. I read most of them twice.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Farewell.
Hester...
I'm not the man I seem.
I've lived here all my life, my purpose clear.
But now I'd risk everything, my life, my ministry, my soul
just to spend a few moments alone with you.
God help me, Hester.
I love thee.
God help me. I love thee too.
Oh God. Have we lost our way?
No!
I dreamed of thee speaking thy heart.
I have prayed for it even as I have dreaded it.
Was I alive before I laid eyes on thee?
What shall we do?
I know not.
Say something to end it,
for I have not the power.
Nor I.
Nay!
We could be hanged for this.
I've put you in too much danger,
and I must end it by walking away and never speaking with you again.
Go then.
Do as you promised.
Throughout the long summer, Mistress Prynne and the Reverend
Dimmesdale avoided each other at all costs.
Mistress Prynne rarely went to town and the Reverend escaped to the wilds
with the Indians
and faithful Johnny Sassamon for company.
And the colony organized
it's annual election day as usual.
No one the wiser that there existed among them
two hearts struggling against a love
that grew stronger with each passing day.
Johnny Sassamon says they've attacked the "Intrepid".
What's he saying,
Arthur?
The Tarrantines
attacked an English ship, the Intrepid.
All were massacred.
"Prynne".
"Doctor Roger Prynne".
Mistress Prynne.
I'm here as your minister.
Come in.
There was an attack,
an Indian attack on one of our ships.
They say that,
all aboard were massacred.
I regret to be...
the one to bring you this sad news.
I'll leave you to your mourning.
Are you certain none survived?
They say that the tide washed away the bodies.
God forgive me!
I've prayed so long to be set free.
You did not cause his death, Hester.
God...
took your husband.
But was it an answer to my prayers?
Does He work like that?
Perhaps.
If in His eyes there was no other way
we could be together.
I must know what the law is.
The mourning, how long must one wait?
1 month? Six months? What?
Where there is no absolute proof of death,
7 years must pass before we're free to be seen in public.
7 years?
Yes...
Greetings, Metacomet.
We have been
enemies.
But now Tarrantine
and Wampanoag must unite
to fight
the greedy English.
before they push us into
the sea.
Were the Indians cruel to you, Mary?
After my little one died,
they treated me fair and square.
If truth be told,
cruel is how you folks have treated me since I come home.
Thank you.
I didn't do nothing that wasn't forced on me!
The thought of being taken by a savage
makes me sick to my stomach.
Well, they do it on the backs of their horses,
ridin' across the land.
Hester, you all right?
Yes, I'm just tired.
Mary's right.
You call them savages.
I could tell you a thing or two
about your husband before he tied the knot with you.
Stupid slut!
Harold would never had nothing to do with no whore!
You think not?
I've even seen one of your windy ministers
pokin' an Injun girl,
standin' on a bible so he could roger her better.
They always said the Scriptures should uplift you!
I refuse to be with those who would mock the Holy Book!
Well,
she'll not be coming back soon.
Good riddance to her!
We Quakers believe that the Scriptures be not religion,
but only the ceremony and history of it.
I agree.
For are not the laws of men but the imagination of mortals,
and the inner spirit the true voice of Heaven?
Hester,
I pray you're not sayin' you talk directly
to the Deity?
Don't you know that
only paid Bible-thumpers can do that?
Have a care, child,
or they'll talking of you the way they talk of me!
I know some consider it blasphemous to say this,
but I do talk to God.
I have since I was a small child.
And He answers me.
Mistress Roger Prynne...
by order of the Governor of Masachusetts Bay Colony,
you are ordered to appear before the magistrates
at eight tomorrow morn!
Don't be tardy!
Mistress Prynne,
these gentlemen have laid a charge of heresy against you.
Tell me how it is the laws of men are the imagination of mortals?
It is the meetings that you call heresy.
Lascivious talk of fornication with savages.
Fallen women who tell lies about good citizens.
This is what comes when there is no qualified man present
to guide these women in their untutored chatterings.
If the discourse of women is untutored chattering,
why does the Bible teach that women shall be the teachers of women?
Hester, we ask that you cease these meetings.
No, sirs. I'll not stop the meetings.
Arthur. Please join us.
I've been fishing, sir..
You may thank me to remain where I am.
- Please be seated. - Call our first witness.
Is it truly of import?
Yes, it is of great consequence.
Very well, call your witness.
Goody Gotwick?
Stand up, Goody.
You revealed to my wife something very disturbing.
Tell me, what does it mean when a woman
vomits in the morning hours?
And vomits more than once in the morning hours?
I only saw her the one time.
Yes. And?
Goody Mortimer saw her get sick in the market.
Are you with child?
Answer your betters, woman!
Do you carry a bastard child in yur womb?
Yes.
Who is the father?
You are innocent next to the one who would hide behind your skirts.
We would hang that fornicator!
I'll not reveal the name, sir.
I will tell you his name!
His name is Lucifer!
His name is Legion!
His name is lust!
Gentlemen,
what do you hope to accomplish?
You know there is no law against pregnancy.
But there is against adultery.
It would only adultery if her husband were found to be alive.
The meetings will stop!
Governor,
if you knew the name of this man, would you punish Hester Prynne?
Has she confessed the name to you?
I've confessed nothing!
- Tell us the truth, Arthur. - He knows nothing of my affairs.
He speaks as my pastor to spare me your harsh hand.
But I fear not your punishments!
I love and honor the man who has fathered this child!
And say what you will, he is my true husband for life,
and I shall furnish no information which might cause him harm.
Very well, you leave me no choice.
You're under arrest.
Is this your new Jerusalem?
Let me have a moment alone with the woman.
- I can draw the name from her. - You shall have your chance.
Gentlemen.
I've considered all the arguments
and decided Arthur is allowed to speak to Mistress Prynne alone.
Hester Prynne,
place your hand on the Good Book.
Let us pray.
Why did you not tell me?
I was afraid.
I thought if I worked hard, I would miscarry.
I must go to Bellingham with the truth.
No, you must not!
You are a saint to these people! They'll hang you for betraying them!
I prefer to hang, than allow you to suffer for me.
They've no case against me!
- When they tire, they'll release me. - I know Stonehall.
You've challenged him,
and he'll not release you
until you are humbled and have recanted your sins.
Do you believe we've sinned?
I know not.
What happen between us had a consecration. Have you forgotten?
I've not forgotten!
Arthur, I know you want to speak out.
Your nature cries out for it.
But you risk your own ruin and deny me
my right to stand up to this hypocrisy.
Soldier!
If I need you to speak,
I'll tie this handkerchief from the window.
I love thee woman,
but your strength frightens me.
I'll do what you ask.
Amen.
God be with you.
I'm sure he already is.
Gentlemen,
Mistress Prynne has been there more than 5 months
without any legal justification.
Even in Plymouth they regard this as barbaric!
I'd like to free her. At home, I have no peace on this.
But the people see us go to her week after week, caps in hand,
only to be turned away.
The woman is unrepentant!
She's fortunate we haven't beaten her publicly!
I'm surprised at you Reverend. You came here a man of reason.
I came here expecting some semblance of order.
Instead I find a den of fractiousness!
Sir, if you do not stem this dissent,
my wife and I will return to England.
And take our parishioners!
If only she would give us
a small sign of contrition.
If it had been up to him, my father,
he would have ended it and revealed the truth of my origins.
But bound by my mother's wish, he could not.
He went every day to see her and was refused.
His eye ever on that window for her sign that it was time
to come forward with the truth.
Had there been flashes of Prynne's unstable nature before
in England?
No one knows.
But now, free from Puritan society,
he was increasingly seized by spirits so powerful
they were terrifying even to the Indians.
He has a ghost in him.
He'll bring us bad luck.
Send him home.
Forgive me, Lord,
for I have turned from my Heavenly Father.
Forgive me.
Lord, bring me back to thy bosom.
God's teeth, child! How could they leave you thus?
I'm so glad you're here!
6 months and not one visitor.
Some of us came, my dear, but we were turned away.
Your slave came every day. How quick are the pains?
- They're not stopping. - Here.
Take a sip of this.
I wager you won't refuse my cider this time.
Rvd. Dimmesdale tried always to get you freed.
- Another? - Yes.
All right, breathe deep. Breathe deep.
Hold on to me! Good girl!
Easy, easy.
Let me see.
All's well. All's well. It's close.
It's very close. Come, my dear. It's time.
Up you sit.
Good girl. There.
Move down a little. Good.
This child is ready to be born.
We've work to do!
There.
How could they keep me here so long?
Well, I'll say this,
you must have a will of iron.
When you take on the men, it leads to death.
All right, my dear. Chin down and bear down hard!
More and harder!
Harder! Good!
Good girl. That's it.
Easy.
Good. Easy.
Are you sure God's not punishing me?
To be sure he's punishing you.
He be giving you a child!.
Now. Gently.
Now the head is coming.
The head is through.
Just a little more. Easy.
Easy. Easy.
She'd here!
Oh, thank you, God!
Yes!
Little Pearl. Yes!
Harriet, she's here!
She's here.
Sit there, Mistress.
Proceed, Reverend.
I'll have them fetch fresh clothes for you and the babe.
I bring good news.
I've prevailed upon the Governor.
You are to be freed.
But by law...
you'll be brought to the scaffold
for reprimand.
Hester.
Whatever is said,
please,
be as contrite as your conscience permits.
If not for my sake, for the babe's.
I beg you, don't anger them further!
I've come to baptize the babe.
I've died not seeing you.
I came every day.
I baptize this child,
Pearl.
In the name of the Father,
and the son,
and the Holy Ghost.
May the Lord bless thee,
and care for thee,
and watch over thee.
Amen.
Freeing this woman
is an invitation to every wife
to defy her husband.
Every child it's parent!
No, she should be released.
What?
You don't put her in prison,
you put the prison in her.
So each time someone sees her,
her sin will be marked into her soul afresh.
Cunningly contrived, my dear.
Make way in the King's name.
A blessing on the righteous Colony of Massachusetts,
where iniquity is dragged into the sunlight!
Know ye
that Mistress Roger Prynne
has been ordered
to bear punishment for fornication and adultery.
If it be determined later
that her husband be still alive,
she may face a most severe penalty,
which is to be hanged by the neck until dead.
Pray, silence, for his Excellency,
the Governor.
Hester Prynne,
though you show no modesty in you apparel,
yet you have a chance, still, to repent your sins.
Yes, Hester, repent!
Child, don't you believe you have sinned?
I believe I have sinned in your eyes,
but who is to know if God shares your views?
Woman,
transgress not the limits of Heaven's mercy!
Reverend Dimmesdale, you are her pastor.
Speak to her for all our sakes!
Soften her, her hardness her obstinacy!
Listen to the Reverend!
Speak to the woman, my brother.
Exalt her to confess the truth!
Hester Prynne,
you hear what these good men say,
and see the accountablity under which I labor.
For your soul's peace,
I charge thee
speak out the name
of your fellow sinner.
Be not silent
for some mistaken pity or tenderness for him.
For believe me, if he could
step down and stand beside you on your pedestal of shame,
it would be better than to
carry a guilty heart through life.
What can your silence do for him,
except to tempt him?
And compel him
to add hypocrisy to sin?
Speak.
She will not speak.
In the name of the Lord, name him!
Name him!
- His name! - What is his name?
Who might he be?
Very well.
Beadle!
Mistress, if you do not speak out
his name, wear upon your bodice
this symbol of your sinful fornication.
Heed not this
final warning,
and you will be a pariah,
cut off, shunned and reviled by every man,
woman and child in this town!
Why do you wait? Put it on!
It is not a badge of my shame, but your own!
What do you want?
Have I changed so much, my beloved,
that you would slay me as I resurrect myself from the dead?
Roger?
Hester.
Was I ever unkind to you?
Did I not love thee?
Did I not see thee above all womanhood?
Are you not bound to me by sacred oath?
Or has this new land turned thee into a heathen?
Lay our bed will thou, wife.
Pray for thy sins, Hester Prynne.
Beg the Lord to forgive thy corruption.
Pray and I'll wash thee as white as snow.
White as snow, my love.
White as snow.
Arthur?
Hester?
Thank God you're here!
- Why are you taking this risk? - I had to warn you.
My husband is alive.
Dear God!
Alive?
Now we'll hang for certain.
Why would he show up at this moment if he wasn't God's dark messenger,
sent to punish us.
Arthur, you must leave without us.
I cannot bear to see you trapped here,
under his watchful eye forever.
Hester, I must stay and watch over you and Pearl.
No. You don't know him.
He'll wait for us to betray each other
with the slightest glance or the merest gesture.
Please. You must go!
This God's punishment,
because we tried to run from His Will.
I will not say farewell, Hester.
Pray God watch over you.
And so will I.
Kiss Pearl for me each night.
'Tis easy to see the mother's part in her.
Is it beyond research, I wonder,
to analyze her nature, and from it's make and mold,
give a shrewd guess as to the father?
What are your expectations?
I do not expect your heart to return to you quickly.
But I hope one day you will draw me again
into your heart.
Love has forced me to open my heart to another.
Watch your tongue, woman!
'Tis this phantom lover who puts these words into your mouth!
Where is he?
Is his kiss
still wet on your lips, on your breast?
- I demand to know! - If I spent 6 months in a cold jail,
and did not tell these iron men,
what makes you think I'll tell you now?
These trials have made me strong!
And I am not the child you married!
Why not announce yourself openly and cast me off at once.
No, no.
I seek no vengeance against you.
But the man lives who wronged us both.
He bears no letter of infamy
wrought into his garment.
But I shall read it on his heart.
Breathe one word to him of my true identity,
and you will both hang.
If you try to escape,
you will be easily found.
Easily!
From the savages
I have learned patience,
Hester Prynne.
Goody Gotwick, thank you.
Reverend, allow me to introduce our newest boarder,
Doctor Chilling...
- Chillingworth. - Chillingworth.
Good day, man.
Good day, sir.
What brings you to our colony, sir?
I'm a physician, sir. I would cleanse the ills
of the community.
Have I said something strange?
No.
I'm amazed.
We have prayed for a skilled physician.
I see you are translating the Bible into Algonquin.
A most difficult tongue to master.
If I can be of help, Reverend.
I am fluent in Algonquin.
- Fluent? - Yes.
I was a prisoner of the Tarrantine.
When I spoke improperly, I was whipped.
I learned quite rapidly.
How were you captured?
I was working my farm in Virginia. They came,
killed my wife, Eleanor, God rest her soul,
and our infant son,
and sold me into captivity.
It's a wonder you're not consumed
with bitterness and despair.
No, no. In truth, I am indebted to the Indians.
Some say they are savages, but true savagery,
I find resides elsewhere.
Mistress Roger Prynne.
Mistress Prynne.
And what is your duty, boy?
Follow you around, Mistress.
Well, at least they'll make a path for me.
Whore!
God will punish you, sinner!
Jezebel!
You're not welcome here!
Be gone, Hester Prynne!
Soap, please. Three pieces.
Although he wore no outward symbol of his shame,
my father wore his own scarlet letter on the bosom of his soul.
The pain of their separation must have affected us all.
I was a troublesome child.
My father ached for my mother,
and filled his loneliness in the wilds with Johnny.
They struggled
to keep alive their dream
of building a bridge between English and Indian.
Johnny,
why are they so close to town?
They say our people have fallen asleep.
So they must remain awake for all of us.
I'm worried.
Is war coming?
The great experiment is not working, is it?
Yes, he's right.
If there's war, what is to stop our praying Indians
from rising up
and slitting our throats as we sleep?
Faith, Thomas. Faith.
I know what will stop them.
Arthur's friendship with Johnny Sassamon.
Johnny would never betray Arthur.
He worships him.
As Peter worshipped
Jesus.
Gentlemen. Doctor.
If there's a true war,
God help us all.
for neither we nor the savaged will survive it.
I see the governor appreciates the signs less than yee,
his Godly advisors.
It is not always easy.
Strangely, the same thing happened in Virginia.
Before the attack,
there were signs that went unheeded.
What manner of signs?
The bad winter. The crop failures.
Far too many Quakers and foreigners in the town.
Some minor elements
of witchcraft, etc.
Exactly!
Our first sign was that
of Hester Prynne and her women's meetings.
Then the severe winter.
The failed crops.
You see, sir,
my colleague has feared from the start,
that in the matter of Mistress Prynne,
witchcraft was involved.
Then why in all this time have you not taken measures
to cleanse your colony?
What measures do you speak of?
Did you examine the women present at those meetings?
Have you queried the midwife,
or inspected the child for the witch's marks?
I shall fear no evil.
I prepare us a table in the presence of thine enemy.
My cup
runneth over.
Surely goodness
and mercy shall follow me.
I will dwell in the house of the Lord.
The babe's clean,
at present.
Hester,
we shall leave your child with you for the present,
but you must assure us it will be raised a Christian.
Yes, yes.
Yes.
I've been your friend today.
But it cannot always be so. No.
For inside me I grow more wretched by the day.
I yearn so much for thee.
I fear I might destroy
her whole world to win her back.
Tell old Harriet what's troubling you.
I never imagined
how cruel and cunning their punishment could be.
Stonehally Cheever stop to preach at me in the street.
The people pointing and shouting.
Even the children.
And that horrible drummer boy following me everywhere.
Perhaps it was all for naught.
I wonder if to be a woman is worthwhile at all.
Even for the happiest of women.
Courage, child.
Take heart. At least you've known what it is to love.
But what if I've repaid it by destroying him?
What if
everything I believed so strongly was a lie?
Vain and
selfish.
Prynne's cruel punishments
were succeeding.
The seasons ran their course.
The distance between them was impassable.
My mother took the terrible risk of writing to my father,
reminding to keep their love and his silence.
The subtle but constant presence of Prynne
was a torment
that threatened my father's very soul.
As for Prynne,
his lust for revenge
fed on itself
so that he hungered for more.
Good morrow, Mituba.
What a pleasant day for a ride.
Poor Mituba.
You're renowned for your loyalty to your Mistress, and I see why.
Was your dry lunch a communication from her lover?
I have the power to arrest you as an accomplice to adultery
and bring you before the magistrates for questioning.
And since you are a slave,
they might whip you to death.
Easy. Easy.
I only want to help the one we both love.
To free herself from the grasp of a fiend.
Dear Lord, this is it!
He made you strip naked before him!
Totally naked!
Was there a presence in the room?
Now think! Think!
He might have come in one of his many disguises.
Did he come as a bird?
Oh, God. I feel
the presence of Lucifer!
Save yourself before it's too late!
Gentlemen, please!
Enough!
Go home, Mituba. You've been a wondrous help.
Commend us to your Mistress.
Go home.
So there is a malignancy
to be cut out here.
But what kind of witness will a slave be in court?
The bird, obviously, is Harriet Hibbons.
What is it, Pearl?
- Forgive me, Hester. - Harriet.
Yours was the first place I thought of to hide.
What is it?
They've, they've, they've ah...
broken into my house. They're looking for me in the woods.
I've been named
as a witch!
In the name of God!
Halt there!
Yes, sir!
What's the meaning of this intrusion?
Stand aside, woman!
We know the witch is in here.
There's no one inside
but me, my child and Mituba.
So unless you have a warrant, be gone.
Reverend Dimmesdale.
What's happening, major?
We've cornered ourselves a witch.
Here in Hester Prynne's cottage.
If there's a witch inside the house, major,
I'll find her.
Right.
One man at the door.
- Soldier! - Sir?
Pearl's grown tall.
She's an elf.
Willful.
Dear God, Hester.
It's been so long.
You'r thin.
Are you hiding someone, Hester?
Why do you...?
Why are you risking
further anger from the elders?
Because she is no witch! She's committed no crime
beyond speaking her mind!
If she is innocent,
I assure you no harm will befall her.
Arthur. After all that has happened,
how can you still trust these iron men?
Don't you see what's happening?
Last month they brought Sally Short for questioning.
They held her for 2 days. Last week it was Mary Rollins.
They just questioned them!
What's the crime in that?
The crime is they had nothing!
Don't you see
this is some malevolence?
- What has become of you? - God, woman!
What are your demands?
I've given up everything I own sacred!
I'm in Hell!
In the eye of your husband, who lurks at my side day and night.
In the eye of all who come to me to unburden their soul!
I'm a pollution!
I'm a lie!
They are the pollution!
They are the lie!
But you allow them to destroy all that is good in you!
What's happened to the man I love?
Does he not still live inside thee?
Our love, woman, was a folly.
And the voice we heard,
we have been punished for listening to!
What have I become?
To betray the only person on earth who had shown her kindness.
What could feel worse than that?
Mituba?
Poor, mute Mituba.
When Prynne summoned her,
she wanted only to undo the harm she'd caused her Mistress.
Peace in this House!
Peace, I say. Peace!
You find these proceedings humorous, Mistress?
Do you expect me to take them seriously?
You're a bunch of grown men
poking around my private parts looking for witch's marks!
The slave, Mituba...
Peace, I say. Peace!
The witness, the slave Mituba, has been found dead.
I told you she was a witch!
- Mistress Hibbons is a witch! - She's a witch!
Witch!
Have you lost all reason?
There's no witchcraft here!
This is murder!
Guards,
restrain this woman!
Satan is not at work here among the women!
But if he's here, perhaps he is at work among you men!
Here Satan speaks!
Governor?
I have evidence to render.
As you know,
Mistress Hibbons midwifed Mistress Prynne's
baby Pearl.
Sweet Pearl.
Bastard!
No!
Pearl.
I wish you were my girl.
Poor fatherless child.
Would you like to learn a game?
Yes. Now do what I do.
If I pinch my nose.
You too. Very good, very good.
Now,
pull up my shirt and show my tummy tum-tum.
Now show me your tummy tum-tum.
Pull up your shirt.
Behold the witch's mark!
Behold the devil's own child!
The devil's own child! The devil's own child!
This woman is innocent!
Innocent? Since you first spoke of this woman,
all we've dreames and toiled for in God's name has been threatened!
I've heard enough!
Have you listened?
Factions! Arguments! Dissent!
That is the work of Satan!
The town was in an uproar.
My father risked one last meeting with my mother,
convinced that if they were to hang
Harriet, it would not be long
before my mother and I would be seized... and hung.
I had to speak out.
I couldn't stop myself.
Damn your husband!
You and Pearl must go in hiding. Tonight.
I cannot.
I cannot run.
What are you saying?
Forgive me.
Whatever happens,
promise me you'll look after Pearl.
God, woman, how much further must you take this?
As far as my strength will take me.
If Harriet is to hang, I must hang with her.
I'll ask the other women to stand with us.
They can't hang us all.
Hester, are we ever to know a life together?
I love thee.
I love thee and always will.
I will always love thee.
Lord God, we stood before thee naked once,
and now we stand before thee
naked again, as a family.
God! Thou has given me this as a gift,
and I will not give it up!
Not while I have the strength.
Arthur?
Evening Mistress Prynne. Expecting someone else?
Ah, no.
Didn't you call out for Arthur?
The only Arthur I know is... Dimmesdale.
You misunderstood me, I didn't say...
I should have guessed long ago.
You naughty girl.
So you fucked our minister.
God, I'm about to savour a priceless morsel!
Up we go!
Did he suck your breasts?
Did he lick you?
Where did he lick you?
Show me!
How I wanted to put it in you!
This is to make you pay for my fantasies.
While you were torturing me,
you were giving it to another.
Damned witch!
Get out!
Do up your britches and get out!
Bastard! Get out of here!
How I will enjoy watching you and the pastor hang!
Open up, doctor!
There are matters between us we must discus immediately.
So, Arthur Dimmesdale.
At last justice is done!
ˇHa sido asesinado!
Call out the militia! Call out the guards!
It's a sign! The Lord has sent us a sign!
We have strayed!
See how he punishes us!
It's Brewster. Those savages
have killed him!
My son! My son!
Damned heathens!
Lock up the praying Indians,
before they murder us in our beds!
Get the praying Indians!
Praying Indians into the compound!
We are loyal to you!
By order of the Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony,
you are under arrest for the crime of heresy.
Stop this. It was one of us who killed Brewster.
I have proof.
Bastard!
Johnny, run to Metacomet's place by the river.
Tell him to come and save his people. Run, man!
Here come the witches!
Open the cell.
- Never mind the child. - Pearl!
- Get in, woman! - Pearl?
Worry not, Mistress.
I'll see she's raised up to fear the Lord.
Open up, murderer!
There is no witchcraft here!
If we hang these women,
then what have we become?
Who are we
to condemn
on God's behalf?
I love this woman.
I am
the father of her child.
And in God's eyes,
I am her husband.
If you must hang someone,
to appease
your anger and fear,
then hang me.
Hang him!
Bastards!
Hester!
Where's my daughter, Pearl?
She's in the meeting house!
You are free, my people. Go back to Metacomet!
Go back to the forest!
Bellingham will do anything to conceal this madness from England.
He has sworn to me that he will remove the letter.
And make thee a public apology.
How close they are, love and hate.
We're no less bound by one than the other.
Rest in peace, Roger Prynne.
This letter has served a purpose.
Though not the one
they had intended.
So why would I stay here?
To be accepted by them? To be tamed by them?
- There is no perfect world. - No, not perfect.
But we came here to make a new one.
And for Pearl's sake,
I must do just that.
Hester.
Hester!
Look at me.
If I look at you, I won't be able to leave
Then leave.
Brave the wilds!
But Hester,
I'm not letting you go without me.
They're watching us.
In the faraway Carolinas,
they were at last to find a measure of the happiness
that hade been denied them for so long.
My father died before I reached my teens.
Some say that was a punishment.
My mother never remarried nor loved another.
Some say that was a punishment.
As for me,
I do not see it that way.
My parents shared a love like no other.
I know the spirit of that love lives within me.
And will live within my children forever.
Who is to say what is a sin in God's eyes?