Scarlet Letter Passion Quotes

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

““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

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

Next we can view the sin of pride in the characters of the Puritan individuals and Roger Chillingsworth. Pride is seen as the internal belief that one’s self is more valuable than others. The Puritans are also quick to pass judgment on Hester who appears to them as having too much pride. When Reverend Dimmesdale tries to appeal to Hester to reveal Pearl’s father’s earthly name. She refuses by saying, "I will not speak! My child must seek a heavenly Father; she shall never know an earthly one! (1206). But quite frankly she is doing the opposite of that, Hester is acting with a great deal of chastity; or self-control to the outside world to the true knowledge of her lustrous act with Arthur Dimmesdale. She spears Dimmesdale of the pain and humiliation she must endure herself.

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.

Little innocent Pearl. The baby born into one of the worst sins possible and has to stand with her mother while she is humiliated publically. Pearl is the one that helps Hester get through this tough time and she makes the story. Without Pearl, Hester would have given up on life and left all good morals behind. Through Pearl’s actions and encounters with people readers learn how important she is as a character in The Scarlet Letter.

Another use of Pearl is that she seems to be able to change the characters in the novel. Due to her sin and the birth of Pearl, Hester must now wear the scarlet letter for the rest of her life (Hawthorne 60). Dimmesdale also has to wear something for his sin. But Dimmesdale does it in secret since no one knows he is the father of Pearl. He has disfigured his chest in some way. Near the end of the novel, Hester finally takes off her scarlet letter after Dimmesdale and her make plans to leave Boston with Pearl. Pearl, who does not like this, grows angry at her mother and begs Hester to put the scarlet letter back on . “Pearl causes a visible change in Hester by audibly, imperiously, and petulantly demanding that her mother pin the discarded A in its customary place” (McNamara 540). At the end of the novel Dimmesdale shows to everyone his chest and what he has done. He also confesses to being the father of Pearl. “With a convulsive motion, he tore away the ministerial band from before his breast. It was revealed!” (Hawthorne 281). All the

"But she named the infant 'Pearl,' as being of great price- purchased with all she had- her mother's only pleasure" (Hawthorne 85). Pearl being one of the main characters and symbols in Hawthorne's, The Scarlet Letter, is one of the biggest character because of what she represents. Pearl represents many things in this novel. Although many believe that Pearl is more of just a character to be the realistic symbol of Hester's mistake, Pearl is the main idea in this story. Pearl is a character that represents the complicatedness of love, proudness and pride, and most of all adultery involving Hester and Dimmesdale.

As a result of exclusion from society and the Puritan children, she connects with nature and animals. “Pear was a born outcast of the infantile world … the whole peculiarity, in short, of her position in respect to other children.” (86). Hester’s sin had caused Pearl and herself

The townspeople thinks she is a demon child due to her constant outbursts. Hester’s punishment for adultery is to wear a scarlet letter upon her chest as a mark of shame. Similar to the actual scarlet letter, Pearl punishes Hester by physically reminding her of what she has done. She is often referred to as the living embodiment of her parents’ sin. Hester cries out to the town leaders in an act of maintaining custody of her daughter, “God gave me the child! . . .

From the instant Pearl was first let out of the dark prison cell to the light of the outside world, she is held tightly in her mother’s arms upon the golden thread of the scarlet letter, symbolizing the close connection between the child and the emblem. At first, the Puritan society has cast this letter onto Hester Prynne form her ignominy and onto any product of that sin. Because Pearl is the human offspring of such sin of passion,

    Pearl is a direct reminder that although Hester and Dimmesdale are dealing with their guilt in their sins, that their daughter is a direct reminder of the obligation they have to her. It would be made clear that Pearl is the human form of the scarlet letter when Hester dressed her up in gold and scarlet. The young girl is a constant reminder to her mother's adultery that led to her birth, and even as a baby, the girl would reach for the scarlet letter. Her daughter would be her torture and her salvation, all at once.

Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale are the two main characters in the novel the scarlet letter. As parents to Pearl, the daughter out of adultery, these two go through the journey of shunning and hatred, but not together. Their stories are very different, and yet, so very similar.

The scarlet letter is the Puritan’s method of broadcasting Hester’s sin to the world, but it also has an internal effect on Dimmesdale. Puritanism is a strict religion where pleasure is strictly forbidden and is punishable. When Hester Prynne is discovered to have committed adultery, she is forced to wear a scarlet A, which is short for ‘adultery’. When this is first revealed, Hester stands in the jail carrying baby Pearl and, with the people jeering, is asked by Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale if she would tell the world who the Pearl’s father is; Dimmesdale is relieved when the answer is ‘no’– and it is later revealed that Dimmesdale is the father. Over the course of the novel, Dimmesdale’s

Pearl represents a physical form of many character’s consciences throughout the novel. For instance, she is the voice of the collective conscience within her community when she points the crooked finger at Hester in the forest. Everywhere Hester goes, Pearl must follow and so she is a constant reminder to Hester that she must wear the scarlet letter at all times, while on their walk in Chapter 16, Pearl tells her mother that “the sunshine does not”(274) love her and “it runs away and hides itself”(274)because it is afraid of the letter. However, after Hester has cast off the letter “A” Pearl refuses to come to her. Pearl often highlights and brings attention to Hester’s scarlet letter by inquiring about its purpose, this shows that while she may represent the conscience of those around her, she is still a little girl trying to understand the world around her.