The Powerful Character of Pearl in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

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The Powerful Character of Pearl in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

One of the most significant writers of the romantic period in American

literature was Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne wrote stories that opposed

the ideas of Transcendentalism. Since he had ancestors of Puritan belief,

Hawthorne wrote many stories about Puritan New England. His most famous

story is the Scarlet Letter. This novel tells of the punishment of a woman,

Hester Prynne, who committed adultery and gave birth to Pearl. A minister

of Boston, Arthur Dimmesdale, had an affair with Hester while believing

that her husband, Roger Chillingworth, had died. However, Chillingworth

did not die and appears during the early stages of Hester's punishment.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the character of Pearl in the

Scarlet Letter. Her whole life had many difficulties while living in

Puritan New England. Furthermore, Pearl displays much parallelism to the

scarlet letter that Hester must wear. Finally, Pearl's birth intensified

the conflicts in the novel. Clearly, Pearl becomes the symbol of all the

other major characters' tragedies.

The character of Pearl in the Scarlet Letter lived a very difficult

life. Before the novel begins, Hester Prynne gives birth to Pearl after

having an affair with Arthur Dimmesdale, a Puritan minister. Pearl's birth

proves that Hester cheated on her husband Roger Chillingworth provoking the

stories action. The novel opens with the people of Boston staring and

laughing at Hester holding Pearl while standing on the town's scaffold. At

this time, Pearl is three months old. Years later Hester gets released from

jail and lives with Pearl in the outskirts of town. Since Hester becomes

alienated from Boston, Pearl turns into "her mother's only treasure!"

(Hawthorne 76). Hester makes bright red clothes for Pearl that parallel the

scarlet "A." At age three, Pearl endures many laughs and jokes from other

Puritan children but chases them away with stones. Since Pearl's birth

resulted from broken rules, she does not feel the obligation to follow

rules. Although her life is an outcast of Puritan society, Pearl's language

shows a high level of intelligence. Later, Hester receives word that the

magistrates want to take Pearl away from her. Hester takes Pearl to the

governor's house where the child meets her father, Arthur Dimmesdale.

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