Pearl's Symbolism In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

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.

Pearl is first introduced as the young babe clutched to Hester's chest, as she stands before a crowd of puritans beholding her humiliation. Embarrassed of the glaring letter on her chest, Hester thinks to hold little Pearl in front of her scarlet mark; however, she resolves that “one token of her shame would but poorly serve to hide another” (P.37). It is here that we see for the first time that Pearl has been reduced to nothing more than a symbol of Hester's sin, synonymous with the scarlet letter. As Pearl grows, so does the obvious nature with which Hawthorne portrays her as the scarlet letter. Throughout the book, we see Pearl dressed in bright clothes,

All three of them share one thing in common. They are sinners and outcasts in the eyes of Puritan society. To the members of the puritan community the forest is a secretive place of sin; yet when Pearl enters the forest it is almost as if she is at home, “that the mother-forest, and these wild things which it nourished, all recognized a kindred wildness in the human child” (P.140). Pearls connection to the forest demonstrates her disconnect from society. She feels more regretful for throwing pebbles at a “little gray bird, with a white breast” (P.122) then she does for assaulting the scarlet letter upon her mothers chest. This demonstrates how the scarlet letter has alienated her from human