Scarlet Letter Pearl Prynne Quotes

Dimmesdale is a symbol of dishonesty and is a self-centered individual; he knows what he must do in order to make it honorable but lacks the courage and confidence to make himself public. In the Scarlet Letter, Hester tells Dimmesdale that the ship for Europe leaves in four days. He is delighted with the matter of being able to "fulfill his public duties" and give his Election Sermon before leaving. Although from this disdainful act, he worries that the congregation may notice the features found in Pearl’s face may be identical to his

Pearl’s existence reminds Hester of her act of passion, which the cultural morality of Boston dictates as sinful. This is evident not only because Pearl is the product of Dimmesdale and Hester’s action, but because of who Pearl is at heart. Pearl’s personality is as stated,

“On one side of the portal, and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rose-bush, covered, in this month of June, with its delicate gems, which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in, and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom, in token that the deep heart of Nature could pity and be kind to him." Chapter 1, pg. 46

Thomas Carlyle, a famous Scottish philosopher known for his poetry, and morality once said, “It is through symbols that man consciously or unconsciously lives, works and has beings.” This quote relates to Pearl in The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne because of her ability to make her own moral choices apart from those of her mother, or the townspeople. Throughout the novel, the letter A, the rose, and nature all symbolize Pearl and her morality. To begin, the letter A is presumably a symbol for Pearl. Pearl is an uncontrollable little girl who has behavioral issues and acts similar to a demon child.

Set in seventeenth-century Boston, “The Scarlett Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a story of principal human values and the consequences if said values are replaced with deceit and falsehood. Sincerity and honesty are indirectly pinned as requisites by Hawthorne in order to be a genuine and sane person in society. This is best expressed in the line, "No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be true.” Hawthorne continued his claim by recounting the stories of Pearl, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth who all went about deceit differently or not at all.

Holding on to sin can lead to isolation and alienation. Hester falls in love with another man and commits adultery.

Of all the horrid actions in the Scarlet Letter, none are so inexcusable as the despicable treatment of a helpless, innocent girl. The daughter of an incompetent pariah and a mentally unstable liar, little Pearl Prynne was no more than a tool to justify the misdeeds of the wicked people around her. She suffered far more than anyone else at the hands of those who should have loved her and the town over.

Out of all the themes in the novel The Scarlet Letter, revenge is quite prominent. Throughout the book, the characters all seem to be afflicted with revenge in some sort. The theme revenge, refined by Hawthorne, exposes the flaws of the novel’s ‘perfect being’, how this virtue can take over one’s life, and how this affects them in the later future.

Tony Robbins, author, life coach, and motivational speaker said that “Beliefs have the power to create and the power to destroy. Human beings have the awesome ability to take any experience of their lives and create a meaning that disempowers them or one that can literally save their lives.” (Robbins) In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne reveals Boston, Massachusetts in the middle of the 17th century. Littered with Puritans in Boston during that time and their principles taking over much of the social order itself, it is safe to say that today’s Christian views are not nearly strongly represented as a whole in the general public. Furthermore,

“Children build up resentment. They lack their parents’ love and anger builds up.” (Bucknell 1)Pearl was isolated from almost everyone, his only friend in some way is Hester and Pearl hates when Hester don’t tell her the truth. Kids tend to get disappointed with their parents and others who don’t show them love. I can put myself in Pearl´s shoes and imagine how bad she had too feel in that situations that she experienced. We can judge her without knowing the full background in his life. Pearl was paying for a sin she did not commit and she was suffering lack of love from others. In my opinion Pearl´s only purpose in the novel is to show others people sins and to develop themes such as guilt/shame, the hypocrisy of those who pretend to lover her and reject her later, and the isolation that she and Hester lived in. It must have been a hard life for Pearl, a life of suffering and isolation. Watching his mom all days suffer for what she has done and knowing that no one has an affection for her other than his

Secondly, Hawthorne uses the Hester’s daughter Pearl to contribute to the theme of imperfection. Pearl is the product of sin, she is a rather odd and wild child. Even though she is a constant reminder of imperfection, she is her mother’s only treasure. Just like an actual pearl, Hester had to pay a great deal for her daughter. Pearl’s father Reverend Dimmesdale says, “…to keep the mother’s soul alive, and to preserve her from blacker depths of sin… If she bring the child to heaven, the child will also bring the parent thither.” (Hawthorne 111). Dimmesdale is trying to convince the Governor of the town to let Hester keep Pear. The Governor thinks Hester is unfit but

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.

To this Hester replies, "I must tarry at home, and keep watch over my little Pearl. Had they taken her from me, I would willingly have gone with thee into the forest, and signed my name in the Black man's book too, and that with mine own blood! " (Hawthorne 107) Thus, one can see that Hester's sense of duty and love toward Pearl saved her from succumbing to the temptation that her natural desires would otherwise have driven her to give in to.

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.

Pearl is the one in control of the scarlet letter, through the novel. She has a fixation on the letter since she was a baby and carries it through the book, causing there to be no escape from the symbol for her mother. She is also a living representation of the scarlet letter, through her fixation and her physical appearance. She is one of the aspects controlling the stigma of the letter. Pearl is the scarlet letter shown through her fascination, appearance, and control.