Significance Of Pearl In The Scarlet Letter

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,

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

From her initial introduction to the reader as the “yonder babe, (…) of some three or four months old”, Pearl represents the beauty of the truth (54). As she struggles to find answers about her mother’s scarlet A while simultaneously growing up, Pearl identifies as an innocent character, despite her creation. It is frequently noted that she looks similar to the scarlet letter that her mother so reluctantly bears, with her “bright complexion [and] eyes possessing intensity both of depth and glow, and hair already of a deep, glossy brown” (76). Her similar appearance to the scarlet letter furthers her permanent connection to the letter. Additionally, it highlights the notion that her mother will likely never be able to look at her without reminiscing upon her sin. As Pearl develops, her fire-like actions and dark appearance further molds her into the fleshly expression of Hester’s adultery. Furthermore, Hawthorne ensures to characterize Pearl throughout the novel as a friend to the sunlight, a friend to the truth. As she begins to pick determine that Dimmesdale is her father, the sunlight welcomes her. This is because she is the only innocent character who is not afraid to step into the sun’s rays. Pearl recognizes the light’s love for her and audibly notes, “the

She was such a curious little girl from a very young age, and such a curiosity and boldness towards life was seen as “masculine” and very strange during this time. Her odd personality and strange ways led her to be a bit of an outcast. Fascinated with her mother’s bright red embroidered “A” upon her chest always vexed the young girl. That was the only way she knew her mother, yet she had no concept of what the letter stood for or why only her mother wore one. Her obsession with the letter worried Hester, further peaking Pearl’s curiosity. Many viewed her to be a devil child, and somewhat reasonably so, even her mother began to believe so. Pearl was so curious as to who her father was, yet she somehow always knew that is was Dimmesdale, though her childlike way of understanding kept her wondering why he never would acknowledge her as

Pearl also becomes the one reason Hester still enjoys her life. She accompanies Hester everywhere they go. However she also has issues caused by her lack of social interaction, when kids make comments to her she charges and screams at them. Pearl is also very smart for her age. Throughout the story she is able to make connections based on very subtle cues, such as why Dimmesdale places his hand over his heart.

It is very sad that a child has no purpose in life other than show his parents guilt and shame. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne Pearl was a little girl who was the product of and adulterous act when the minister at the church Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale and a young lady named Hester Prynne. “We have spoken of Pearl’s rich and luxuriant beauty—a beauty that shone with deep and vivid tints, a bright complexion, eyes possessing intensity both of depth and glow, and hair already of a deep, glossy brown, and which, in after years, would be nearly akin to black. “ (Hawthorne 52) Here is a brief description of Pearl, furthermore Pearl is also described as a child who seemed to have some sort of wildness in her.It is said that Pearl was a girl who distinguished herself among others. Pearl was intelligent, very

She was born in a prison, and is being raised in a cottage that is nowhere near the village where all the other children grow up. When people call her such things, she does hear, so this hurts her emotionally and makes this an internal conflict for she must deal with the feelings of being different and judged by others. Since she is isolated from that part of a normal childhood, her only friend in the novel growing up is her mother. This being another internal conflict because she grew knowing her mother always wears the scarlet letter, and is in a certain community that has rules about women. Now in the novel, chapter 17, Hester takes off a garment that covers her hair and removes the scarlet letter from her bosom. Pearl seeing this throws a tantrum for her mother to undo this doing. Causing a major internal conflict of how Pearl sees her mother and dealing with what her mother’s symbols stand for. Pearl mocks her mother for that. There’s an external conflict created by Pearl towards Dimmesdale for when he is conversing with Hester in the forest and he dwells for a kiss, but Pearl refrains. Pearl is a strange child, for she knows something must be going on.

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

She touches the scarlet letter, but little does she know that she is the reason for the punishment. They are social outcasts, so they don’t leave their house much. Pearl plays alone and has best friends that are imaginary. She distrusts her own imaginary friends for the same reason that she distrusts all the Puritans in the colony. People treat Hester and Pearl differently than everyone else is treated. She only loves Hester, because Hester spends time with her and is a good mother. She plays with her and teaches her Bible stories. Pearl knows the whole catechism at the age of three, but refuses to say it to anyone. She is smarter than everyone thinks she is. Chillingworth speaks to Pearl about the scarlet letter. He asked her if she knew the reason why her mother must wear the scarlet letter all the time. She replies, “Yes, that is the same reason why the preacher holds his hand over his heart.” Pearl asks her mom all the time the reason why she wears the scarlet letter and why the preacher holds his hand over his heart. She knows that they both do, but she doesn’t know why. Hester tells her that she wears it because of the pretty gold thread, but she doesn’t know the minister’s reason. Later in the story, Dimmesdale, Hester, and Pearl meet in the forest, and Hester rips the scarlet letter off. Pearl gets mad then, because she knows that her mother is supposed to wear it. Dimmesdale kisses Pearl, but she washes the kiss off with

While Pearl does make Dimmesdale feel guilty she is the connection between Hester and Dimmesdale. Hawthorne says “Prynne, with the embroidered letter glimmering on her bosom; and little Pearl, herself a symbol, and the connecting link between those two”(106). Hester and Dimmesdale are connected by both committing the same sin together. Pearl not only represents the sin they committed but also their relationship. Dimmesdale’s guilt is symbolized by Pearl who also connects him to Hester.

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's relevance in the novel could be initially mistaken for nothing more than a side character and a minor detail, but after reading the entire story it becomes clear just how crucial her role is. Pearl's existence is the sole reason for this story to even exist, for without her existence, there would never have been any evidence or reason for Hester Prynne to be outed for adultery by her Boston Puritan community. As a result, Arthur Dimmesdale would have continued to live out the rest of his days as the beloved minister without the overwhelming guilt, and Roger Chillingworth would have most likely continued to pursue knowledge or Hester Prynne. But, Pearl does exist and so does the story of the scarlet letter, making her the single most important aspect of the

        Pearl primarily serves the role of silently urging Dimmesdale to overcome the pressures to conform to society, and to allow his guilty inner-self to emerge and receive retribution for his sins. She exists as a constant and living reminder and product of the sin Hester and Dimmesdale committed, and acknowledges the false innocence Dimmesdale tries so desperately to maintain. Her inquisition, "Why does he not wear [a scarlet letter] outside his bosom as thou dost?" (ch 16) to her mother concerning Dimmesdale is evidence of this. Pearl has no chance to conform to society because at birth she is regarded