I always imagined it like mauve taupe.

Part of the issue is the availability of color words in 1851 New England is not what we would consider a full gamut. They had a different perception of color because of more limited experience and less available colors. Purple could have meant any of the range of colors of Tyrian purple, which can range from a hyacinth navy purple to a bright pink to a ruddy brown. Similarly, “yellow” was often associated with the color of gold, which is a lot more brown than true yellow.

Beige, mauve, and taupe aren’t even English color words yet in 1851. Indeed, mauve doesn’t take off until the discovery of the first artificial dye in the late 1850s.

Dan Brown cheated by publishing every draft of that story with a different title.

When the villain says something along the lines of, “hey protagonist, if you do X, then I will do Y and it will be your fault.” And then the protagonist acts like Y was or would be actually their fault. No. That’s not how it works. The villain doesn’t get to not have free will because it makes “drama.” It’s just stupid.