Pearl as The Scarlet Letter The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a novel that shows the Puritanical way of life. Society does not accept the fact that Hester has committed the sin of adultery so they cast her out by making her wear a scarlet letter 'A' across her chest. Pearl is the product of Hester's sin, the scarlet letter is the product of society. This idea shows that Pearl is the scarlet letter and the scarlet letter is Pearl. There are many ways in which Pearl is shown to be as the scarlet letter because she is considered to be a part of nature, she is the physical connection between Dimmesdale and Hester, and Pearl is the reason that makes Dimmesdale and Hester to finally accept their sin and make their confession in front of society and the people within society. The reasons are listed in this manner because in the first one nature is a stronger force that human force, then comes her connection between Dimmesdale and Hester because she is the natural connection which is a link from the first one to the second and also her being the reason Dimmesdale and Hester accepting the sin is last because there is a stronger connection between the child and the parents here which is linked from the previous reason. Pearl is a product of a natural act done by two human beings. This is the act of sex. But society considers it to be bad because there was no social contract between the parents to have that baby. But still its natural so it makes Pearl natural and cast out by society. Even her mother notices that it is society that seems to make Pearl the "evil" girl she is, "She knew that her deed had been evil; she could have no faith, therefore, that its result would be for good. Day after day she looked fearfully into the child's expanding nature; ever dreading to detect some dark and wild peculiarity, that could restore to the guiltiness to which she owed her being."( The Scarlet Letter. Nathaniel Hawthorne. 86) Here what is depicted is that Pearl's evil is from her mother's "guiltiness". So if Hester has none of that guilt that came from society then she would naturally be a good girl. Also, Pearl seems to be connected to nature because there is some contact where Pearl has some kind of communication with Pearl.
Hester's daughter, Pearl, functions primarily as a symbol. She is quite young during most of the events of this novel—when Dimmesdale dies she is only seven years old—and her real importance lies in her ability to provoke the adult characters in the book. She asks them pointed questions and draws their attention, and the reader's, to the denied or overlooked truths of the adult world. In general, children in The Scarlet Letter are portrayed as more perceptive and more honest than adults, and Pearl is the most perceptive of them all.
Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter tells the story of Hester Prynne, a sinner, living in a puritan society. As punishment, she is forced to wear a scarlet letter on her chest. Her daughter Pearl is the product of her sinful ways, and a constant reminder of her wrongdoing. Pearl’s embodiment of the Scarlet Letter causes her hostile relationships with the world and her mother. However, when Dimmesdale kisses her, he frees her from isolation and allows her to form human connections.
From the moment she is born in the cold, heartless prison, Pearl is placed under scrutiny. The townspeople see her as a visible reminder of sin, and it isn't long until even her own mother searches for evil in her. The girl is described as "the scarlet letter in another form; the scarlet letter endowed with life!"(Hawthorne 103). With her fascination from an early age with the scarlet letter, Hester believes that Pearl's very reason for existence is to torment her mother. Hester fails to realize that the letter is just something bright and significant to which Pearl reacts; instead, she sees every glance, every word aimed at the letter, every touch of Pearl's tiny fingers to her bosom as an added torture resulting from her adultery. Hester, considering Pearl's very existence, goes so far as to question if the impish child is even her own. "Thou art not my child! Thou art no Pearl of mine!"(Hawthorne 99) she tells Pearl, only half-jokingly. In her own way, she wonders whether Pearl was sent to her by God or by a demon wishing to cause her pain. She is not alone in this speculation; many of the town's citizens believe there is something of the Devil in Pearl.
Evil. Pearl was the baby that was born into darkness and is now a devil baby. The name Pearl was a very unique name and the meaning is very unique as well. The name Pearl is very unique in it’s own way already, but Hawthorne makes it even more unique. “But she named the infant Pearl, as of being of great price, -purchased with all she had, -her mother’s only treasure.” (Hawthorne 81) Hawthorne says that because no matter how evil Pearl is, she happens to be the only thing that keeps Hester sane. Pearl is a very devious child and I think it’s because Hester created her out of sin. “Pearl would grow up positively terrible in her puny wrath, snatching up stones to fling at them, with shrill, incoherent exclamations” (Hawthorne 86) Hawthorne explains that Pearl is always doing bad things but she doesn’t know any better because that’s how she was
As a living reminder of Hester’s extreme sin, Pearl is her constant companion. From the beginning Pearl has always been considered as an evil child. For Hester to take care of such a demanding child, put lots of stress onto her life. Hester at times was in a state of uncontrollable pressure. “Gazing at Pearl, Hester Prynne often dropped her work upon her knees, and cried out with an agony which she would fain have hidden, but which made utterance for itself, betwixt speech and a groan, ‘O Father in heaven- if Thou art still my Father- what is this being which I have brought into the world!’” (Hawthorne, 77).
Pearl and the other Puritan children have a huge role in Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. Pearl is displayed as very different from any of the other children in the book. The attitudes of the children tell the reader a lot about the lives of the Puritans. The story emphasizes that children were to be seen but not heard however, Hester chooses to let Pearl live a full and exciting life. Hester does not restrict pearl or hide her from anyone or anything. This is part of the reason that Pearl becomes such a colorful child. People see Pearl as a child of sin; the devil’s child. Pearl is quite the opposite. She is a happy and intelligent little girl. Pearl is born with an incredible sense of intuition. She sees the pain her mother feels but does not understand where the pain is coming from. Pearl knows somehow deep in her heart that Dimmesdale is her father. She takes a very strong liking to him. This makes it much harder on dimmesdale to work through the guilt seeing what a beautiful thing came from his terrible secret. Pearl serves as a blessing to and a curse to Hester. Hester Prynne loves her daughter dearly but she is a constant reminder of the mistakes she has made.
Those who read “The Scarlet Letter” perceive Pearl as she who personifies her mother’s sinful extramarital affair. After all, Hester adorns her in the same manner as the infamous letter. Yet, near the end of the book Hawthorne revealed, through Reverend Dimmesdale’s final moments, another reason behind his characterization of Pearl:
In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Pearl, is a symbol of sin and adultery in the sense that she leads Dimmsdale and Hester to their confession and the acceptance of their sins. A beauitful daughter of the towns adulturist has somtimes demon like traits. She is also the only living symblol of the scarlet letter "A". In another way Pearl also makes a connection between Dimmsdale and Hester.
The Scarlet letter is a novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The plot focuses on sin in the Puritan society. Hester Prynne, the protagonist, has an affair with Reverend Dimmesdale, which means they are adulterers and sinners. As a result, Pearl is born and Hester is forced to where the scarlet letter. Pearl is a unique character. She is Hester’s human form of her scarlet letter, which constantly reminds her of her sin, yet at the same time, Pearl is a blessing to have since she represents the passion that Hester once had.
A pearl is a precious thing; the finest example of something; pure, white, sinless. However, this distinct character, Pearl is unwanted, a sign of transgression, taint, dirty, and full of sin. In The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne commits adultery and has a baby named Pearl who is the symbol of her mother's sin. Pearl is a rebellious outcast within The Scarlet Letter. She plays a role in key narrative events and due to the embodiment of her mother's sin her actions represent her identity.
Pearl is said to symbolize the result of sin but her character as a child have placed an innocent view of her contribution to the story. As any mother would accept their child she have accepted her “… torture, none the less! Pearl keeps me here in life! Pearl punishes me too!”(Hawthorne 38). Hester “represent the violation of social contract” (Egan1), because of her simple imperfection of “struggles to meet the social demands.
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In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, nature and Pearl are depicted as innocence and evil. Hester brings her daughter, Pearl, to live in the forest because they are not accepted by society due to the Scarlet letter. The relationship between these two is Pearl creates a bond with nature mentally since society rejects her as a product of sin. Nature is viewed in the eyes of a Puritan as a place where witches live to perform witchcraft and where darkness inhabits. However, the relationship between nature and Pearl gives her freedom and growth.
A child whose sufferable of her mother’s treachery, the consciousness of her parent’s guilt, Pearl is an unique character developed by the elements from the story. Of the article by Dan Quin, “Pearl in Hawthorne’s Romance The Scarlet Letter”, Quin has analyzed the different representations of Pearl. Pearl is symbolized as the ‘real form’ of the scarlet letter, the link between her parents, and the moral guardian of their decisions.
Nathaniel Hawthorne does more than just characterize Pearl as Hester’s child in his novel The Scarlet Letter. Pearl is introduced right in the beginning as a symbol of Hester’s sin: adultery. Pearl, as she develops into a toddler, is delved more into as a symbol of the sin. She is beyond what anyone around her would see her as, which is a child. Hawthorne, of course, showed the most symbolism to Pearl, but another help to understand just how important of a symbol she was, was Cindy Lou Daniels. With her literary analysis Hawthorn’s Pearl: Woman-Child of the Future, she uses evidence from Hawthorne’s novel along with multiple other critics of how Pearl is the major symbol of Hester’s ignominy of The Scarlet Letter.