Pearl In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

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.

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 work, The Scarlet Letter, nature plays a very symbolic role. Throughout the book, nature is incorporated into the story line. One example of this is with the character of Pearl. Pearl is very different than all the other characters due to her special relationship with Nature. Hawthorne personifies Nature as sympathetic towards sins against the puritan way of life. Hester's sin causes Nature to accept Pearl.

Nelson Mandela once said, “There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.” In most cases, it is difficult to distinguish and fully understand when you have changed. Whether it be a trivial change in habit to a crucial character transformation, it is best to set oneself up against an untouched canvas, and begin to analyze the newfangled person from there. Throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter, the concept of identifying one’s changes is apparent in two of the main characters, Pearl and Dimmesdale. Both characters experience their own engenderment of maturity and personal growth, though Dimmesdale’s involvement with it is much more deleterious in comparison to Pearl’s.

““There was witchcraft in little Pearl’s eyes, and her face, as she glanced upward at the minister, wore that naughty smile which made its expression frequently so elvish.” (Hawthorne 145) This, is a misleading description that Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts of Pearl, the daughter of Hester Prynne, in his classic novel The Scarlet Letter. Pearl is the living product of sin for her mother. Born out of wedlock, Pearl is a unique child that tends to be very moody and unpredictable. However, Pearl, at such a young age, demonstrates outstanding knowledge and exhibits curiosity to her mother’s scarlet letter, and the hypocrisy of Puritan society. Although Pearl portrays devilish characteristics and performs mischievous behaviour, she

Hawthorne conveys his idea of adultery through Pearl. He connects the “sprite-like” child and the scarlet letter - adultery - to make them the same. Pearl was born from adultery, just like the letter. She is “the scarlet letter in another form; the scarlet letter endowed with life!” (92). Pearl is not a real child, but instead the living form of the letter; explaining her mystical tendencies and fascination with the Black Man. The novel is the life story of the Scarlet Letter and Pearl, for they are born and disappear at the same time. Hawthorne uses this breathing symbol of adultery to directly affect the other characters. He turns Pearl

In The Scarlet Letter, Pearl is often regarded as a symbol to that of the suffering of Hester Prynne and the shamed Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale but Pearls significance is more than just symbolizing the sin committed by her parents. She in many ways represents the innocence that the puritan belief is regressing itself to have. Hawthorne constructs Pearl as an evolving symbol for Hester and Dimmsdale and her progression as a character is shown through that of the actions set forth by these characters. Since the inception of the act of adultery by Hester and Dimmesdale, Pearl is developed by sin but she is not conformed to sin and as a result symbolizing a release of sin. She is essentially the road from childhood to adulthood, innocence to innocence lost to finally understanding and accepting the card that we are all delved with and that’s life after sin.

“Imagination is the key ingredient to overcoming fear and doubt.” Throughout “The Scarlet Letter”, Nathaniel Hawthorne tends to emphasize the intensity of Pearl’s imagination by describing the way Pearl saw the world around her and by talking about the way the people who noticed her vivid imagination, referred to her as a “witch-child”. In “The Scarlet Letter”, Pearl grows up secluded from the rest of the children in the New World. She learns to entertain herself and keep herself company by using her imagination. This is one big example of Pearl overcoming the hardships that she grew up with. As the book progresses, and as Pearl gets older, we see her overcome more hardships she is challenged with to create a strong, independent young girl. The poem provided written by Emily Dickinson comes to show how overcoming Pearl’s hardships led her to blossom from a strong, independent young girl, into an even stronger, successful woman.

This, as Arthur Dimmesdale almost prophetically expresses in the early scenes of Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, was the role of Pearl, the elfish child borne of his and Hester Prynne's guilty passion. Like Paul's thorn in the flesh, Pearl would bring trouble, heartache, and frustration to Hester, but serve a constructive

The characters in The Scarlet Letter are individually viewed differently by the people in the town. Pearl, the infant in the beginning scaffold scene, is a complex character in the novel that is subjected to the cruel comments and rude behavior of the townspeople. Although Pearl is shown as a human character just like all the other characters, Pearls main purpose is to be a living, complicated symbol for the scarlet letter “A” that her mother is forced to wear. Along with the letter “A” printed on her mother’s chest, Pearl is seen as evil and often considered a child of the devil. Although that observation is based solely on the opinions of the townspeople and the letter her mother wears, Pearl often acts in a manner that could be described

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.

Often times, children remind their parents of the mistakes they previously made. However, if the adults gain enough courage and learn to stand up to their wrongdoings, their children will help them see and reach their upmost greatness. Nathaniel Hawthorne illustrates the life of Pearl, a young girl, in his novel, The Scarlet Letter. Initially, Hester Prynne, Pearl’s mother, marries Roger Chillingworth; however, she soon meets the Puritan Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, and Pearl results 9 months later. The Puritan society forces Hester to wear a scarlet and gold colored “A” on her chest as a reminder of her crime - adultery. In society’s eyes, Pearl serves as a reminder of Hester’s sin, establishing Pearl as a living scarlet letter, although

In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Pearl's character not to be a daughter but to be a symbol that manifests Hester's guilt from her sin of adultery. When Pearl is first introduced, she is only a few months old, but already, she seems to have an understanding of her mother’s sin. As Hester holds Pearl to her chest, where the letter is, Pearl winks at the sun as if letting it know that she understands that her God-given duty is to never let her mother forget her sin. It is almost like she is saying ‘do not worry I’ll take care of it’. After all, the most obvious symbol of Hester’s sin, is the offspring it created.

The Scarlet Letter, a novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, deals with adultery, sin, and morals. The main character, Hester Primm, commits adultery with Reverend Dimmsdale. A child is born from this sin. Hester is left to raise her child on her own due to Dimmsdales pride and ego. Hester's daughter, Pearl, is a symbol for everything under the sun.

This permanent marking is like a voice that never stops screaming into my already beaten ears. I feel utterly alone, except for this, the scarlet letter on my bosom. And ofcourse, the living proof of my crime, my little Pearl, who is also a daily reminder of my misdoings. She has been nagging me to tell her the meaning of my “A”, but deep down I am unable to tell her the truth. For she is too young to know the real significance of my letter. I lamely told her I wear it for the sake of the gold thread, but I know she can read right through my transparent lies. I often wonder if my little Pearl knows the truth, she even pointed out Dimmesdale’s frequent habit of grabbing his heart. As I continue to overthink this situation, I start to wonder