Pearl's Contribution to The Scarlet Letter

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Recommended: The romantic characteristics of The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne

Pearl's Contribution to The Scarlet Letter

In Hawthorne's epic novel, The Scarlet Letter he discusses Pearl, a

main character, and her contribution in making the novel a romantic one.

Hawthorne uses three types of romantic topics relating to Pearl.

Stereotypical characters, supernaturalness of characters, and the imaginary

aspect of characters are all qualities of romantic language Hawthorne uses

to better develop Pearl's character. Over the course of the novel

Hawthorne uses all of the aspects of romantic language to unfold the life

of Pearl and how she acts having these qualities.

Pearl's quality of being a stereotypical character makes her blend

into some situations and not into others. Pearl was portrayed as a

stereotypical "victim of Hester's sin", adultery, because as she walks

through town with her mother the other kids shout and curse at her. Pearl

takes it in stride and defends her mother and fends off the evil children.

The adults of Boston, mostly Puritans, talk behind Hester's back about the

child being one of a sinner. Another common stereotype filled by Pearl is

whenever an adult is occupied with something then the child finds something

to do. When Hester went to the woods to meet with Dimmesdale, Pearl went

off to play in the brook while the two adults talked and then she stopped

when her mother called. A second example is when Pearl accompanied her

mother to the seashore where they met Chillingworth, Pearl wandered off by

herself and occupied her time by playing with seaweed and the various

animal life that happened to be around. Children can also notice small

differences in their surroundings that are normally familiar to them. When

Hester and Dimmesdale where in the woods and decided to flee Boston and

travel to Europe, Hester removed her scarlet letter happily and threw it

into the brook. When she called to Pearl to tell her the news of them

leaving Boston, Pearl went into fits of rage and temper tantrums and would

not come to her mother. This was because she was so used to seeing the

scarlet letter on her mother's bosom. Pearl's quality of being

stereotypical, compared to all children and characters in general, is

highly unlikely and only adds to the amount of romanticism in the novel.

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