"At about the centre of the oaken panels, that lined the hall, was suspended a suit of mail, not, like the pictures, an ancestral relic, but of the most modern date; for it had been manufactured by a skillful armorer in London, the same year in which Governor Bellingham came over to New England. There was a steel head-piece, a cuirass, a gorget, and greaves, with a pair of gauntlets and a sword hanging beneath; all, and especially the helmet and breastplate, so highly burnished as to glow with white radiance, and scatter an illumination everywhere about upon the floor. This bright panoply was not meant for mere idle show, but had been worn by the Governor on many a solemn muster and training field, and has glittered, moreover, at the head of a regiment in the Pequot War." ((Chapter 7/PAGE 93-94))
The armour that hangs in the Governor's mansion fits the theme of hypocrisy and symbolized the wrongful actions towards others by the religious/powerful. Since the Governor is the high official in the town, he therefore has a strong religious presence about him. Yet, he has been noted to have been present in the Pequot War, slaughtering thousands of Indians, killing innocent families, and going on a rampage only for the chance to grant themselves a large sum of land that they had no right to take from the Native people. This shows the hypocrisy of the Puritan faith for feeling they have the right to alienate (Hester) and/or annihilate (Pequots) anything who is different to them or opposes them in some way. The way the armour gleams about the room and emits an impressive shine symbolizes the Puritan pride and the justification they feel in regards to such horrible actions because they believe that they have done what God would've wanted them to do.
Yes - this is a great symbol to keep tract of and to compare/use with or against things that come later in the text (especially, perhaps, the shooting star).
ReplyDelete