How Does Pearl Prynne Symbolize In The Scarlet Letter

Pearl’s isolation and reliance upon her mother as her only role model causes her difficulty in forming other relationships, as well as accepting Hester’s other relationships. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s famous novel, The Scarlet Letter, Pearl is a lonely child who has no playmates and only negative connotation towards other citizens of Boston, old and young. Hester, her adulterous mother raised her on her own and taught Pearl everything she knows. Therefore, her mother was the only one she ever trusted, and she approaches other people with a guard up. After many years of this vicious cycle, Dimmesdale, Pearl’s biological father, gets closer and more connected to Hester once again in secret.

Pearl is the daughter of Hester Pryne and Dimmesdale. She was created out of sin because her parents whom committed adultery. Pearl is an outcast almost her whole life in the Puritan Community. She is

Despite being considered God’s punishment for Hester, Pearl was also a blessing in disguise. Her whimsical behavior enthralled people. She was the light in Hester’s sad world, and she was the reason Hester did not lose herself completely due to sorrow and isolation. Pearl’s acts of affection gave her mother hope. Her affection also pleased the minister even though he was

In the Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays Pearl as a strong symbol. She is looked upon as a breathing representation of Hester’s sin, the Puritans see Pearl as a “devil child” that should not be accepted, and she is a constant reminder to Hester of her transgression. From the first moment Hawthorne introduces Pearl in The Scarlet Letter it is evident that Pearl is looked at as a mistake. Hawthorne describes the newborn as the one, “whose innocent life has sprung, by the inscrutable decree of Providence, a lovely and immortal flower, out of the rank luxuriance of a guilty passion” (6.82). Pearl is a beautiful outcome from the act of adultery that will have to persevere through all the hatred in her future.

Hester not only has to live with what she did in her head but she literally has to live with what she did and that is Pearl. Every time she looks at Pearl she is reminded of the sin she has committed. There are symbols everywhere in our lives from the ones on a keyboard to the ones that mean a lot to us, such as a symbol of friendship. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's book The Scarlett Letter he identifies Pearl's function of being a symbol, her being a human symbol and that she is just a symbol in the story. Pearl is a symbol of hope for Hester and for us.

Second, Pearl is a symbol of Hester’s salvation and reason to keep living. Hester names her baby Pearl because she has paid a great price for her. In chapter eight, Hester has to fight to keep Pearl. When they go to the governor’s mansion, he threatens to take Pearl away from Hester. Pearl tells the men at the governor’s mansion that she was picked in the garden by the prison door. They are worried about her well being with Hester and want to remove her from mother. Hester fights to keep Pearl. ‘“God gave her into my keeping,” repeated Hester Prynne, raising her voice almost to a shriek. “I will not give her up!”—And here, by sudden impulse, she turned to the young clergyman, Mr. Dimmesdale, at whom, up to this moment, she had seemed hardly so much as once to direct her eyes” (Hawthorne 124). Pearl is a symbol of Hester’s sin and now Hester has to raise Pearl and teach her what she did wrong. Dimmesdale steps in and tries to back up Hester and tells the governor that Pearl would guide Hester and keep her from making mistakes that she made in the past. God has given Pearl to Hester as a blessing and a reminder of her sin. The mother and daughter have already built a strong bond and Pearl is keeping Hester alive. After all of this, Hester is allowed to take Pearl home with her, but she must follow guidelines. Hester was asked to join the Black Man in the

Pearl is a symbol of love and passion for Hester. To start off, when Hester is first coming out of the jail she doesn't try to hide, ".., wisely judging that one token of her shame would but poorly serve to hide another..," (46). This starts off showing that Pearl is a result her her sin, but she does not hide her, or try to cover up what had defined her life thus far. Pearl reminds Hester of her passion and how Pearl came into this world. Plus, when Hester and Pearl are on their way to the govenor's hall, it address Pearl's appearance, "..; arraying her in a crimson velvet tunic, of a peculiar cut, abundantly embroidered with fantasies and flourishes of gold thread," (84).

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Pearl Prynne is the most symbolic character. Throughout the novel, she is portrayed as the main symbol of adultery. Pearl’s name comes from Hester’s constant reminder of her sin and “as being of great price,-purchased with all she had,-her mother’s only treasure!” (Hawthorne 42). Hester is seen as an outcast by her community.

Pearl is literally a live representation of the scarlet letter and is a constant reminder to Hester, Pearl’s mother, of her sin. In the story, Hawthorne helps to describe Pearl through powerful characterizations. He first describes Pearl as the infant, "...whose innocent life had sprung, by the inscrutable decree of Providence, a lovely and immortal flower, out of the rank luxuriance of a guilty passion"

In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne characterizes Pearl with contrasting personalities and roles she plays in Hester’s life. Pearl’s conflicting personality components, innocence and defiance, both derive from her isolation from society, which transpired because of her mother’s sin. Pearl represents the conflict between everything good and dark, which reflects in the role she plays in Hester’s life, as the physical embodiment of the A. While Pearl serves as a savior to Hester, representing possible redemption, she is also Hester’s tormentor, a constant reminder of her sin, and the consequences of disobeying her Puritan nature and religion. Hawthorne’s intent is established in the novel through Pearl’s attachment to the A, the mirror

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's, The Scarlet Letter, his commentary on the raw, unreserved passion of a child is portrayed through his character Pearl. He shows a distinct view on Pearl and her role in the book and to her mother. He shows the great comparison in the actions and role of a child, exaggerated through Pearl. Her intense passion in the book also makes her a sort of conscience and punishment for her mother. This is because her passion makes her strongly against views when first introduced and when learned and accepted, are taken so literally and so strongly believed in.

And I am thy little Pearl!’”(190). One of Pearl’s main purposes is to be a constant reminder of the scarlet letter. Her inability to recognize her mother shows that the scarlet letter is a part of who Hester is. Here Hawthorne also characterizes Pearl as devilish. In the text Pearl has outbreaks that make her seem evil.

Hester shields Pearl from the truth of her conception for as long as she can. Hester wants Pearl to grow up innocent to the sinful ways of her parents. God blessed her with a lovely child that some may say was not deserved.

In a surface examination of the work of Nathaniel Hawthorne, it is quickly evident that no good things come from the wilderness. Therein, the wilderness is often associated with the savages and the devil. In his work The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne finds herself exiled by society for having an adulterous affair with the town reverend which brought forth the child known as Pearl. Pearl is quickly established as the child of the wilderness: wild, capricious, and thought by the town to be a demon-child. She represents several entities in the novel just by her being, but when her morality is delved into, much more of the nature of the story can be revealed. Pearl’s role is often overlooked as a formative force in the novel. Some scholars have gone as far as to denounce her as unnecessary to the story’s makeup. Upon close examination, it can be determined that Pearl is indeed a necessary element. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Pearl presents themes of morality, both personal and cultural, as well as the divide between society and nature, through her interactions with Hester, Reverend Dimmesdale, and the scarlet letter itself.

Although the town commonly recognizes Pearl for her misbehavior, everyone also knows Pearl for her pure beauty and innocence. They do not define her for her mother’s mistake. Pearl, “a lovely and immortal flower,”(61) seems to radiate her beauty everywhere she goes. In nature, a rose symbolizes immortal love and passion. Coincidentally, Pearl is a product of her mother’s passion, and Hester has an immortal love for her even though Pearl symbolizes a mistake in her life.