The Good Mother In The Scarlet Letter: Hester Prynne

Every individual at some point has questioned their mother’s effectiveness and ability to do her job, be a mother. However, many still ponder at what qualities actually describe a good mother, and sometimes causes legal issues and debate. One of these debated mothers is Hester Prynne, the malefactress who committed adultery and gave birth to a daughter, whom she named Pearl. That said, Mrs. Prynne also shows signs of being a very good mother, whereas she teaches her daughter about the religious practices of the time, she never lets her daughter out of her sight, and she actively cares about her daughter’s well being. Overall, Hester Prynne is a good mother and should be able to keep her fateful daughter, Pearl.

One of the multitude of reasons

The author does no less than blatantly state this is the case, when, in The Scarlet Letter, during a dialogue between Pearl and her mother over the origin of Pearl herself, he writes: “‘Thy Heavenly Father sent thee!’” (Hawthorne 56). Not only does Hester have this dialogue with Pearl to allude to a divine overseer, but she also names her daughter as an allusion to The Parable of the Pearl of Great Price, from Matthew 13:45-46, which is told by the Son, Jesus Christ. This parable states, “‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it’”. This is correspondent to how Hester’s daughter, who is ironically called ‘Pearl’ as well, is the “gift” of such a great price, the sin of adultery. Pearl can be even further described as this “gift” from Psalm 127:3, which states “Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring are a reward from him”. This confirms the fact Hester purposefully named her daughter, who is a gift from the Lord, after a gift of great price. This great price is the guilt and harassment imposed by the community by her sin of adultery. Despite