Theme Of Pearl In The Scarlet Letter

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 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.

Hester Prynne, Pearl, the townspeople, and Nathaniel Hawthorne each have different views of the “Scarlet Letter” that change throughout the story. Hester begins to feel proud of her letter but then soon humbles herself when she wears it and ends up feeling the guilt of her sin towards the conclusion of the story. The letter for Hester begins to shape her life along with pearl for it is an everyday thing for her. Pearl, as a young child, is aware of her mother’s letter but doesn’t fully understand its meaning. Pearl later on begins to only see and recognize her mother with the letter on. The townspeople, in the beginning of the story, hate Hester and her letter believing her punishment should have been more harsh, but later on they find a new meaning for it. Nathaniel Hawthorne varies with his opinions and view of the letter just as each character does. Each view represents a different side to the story.

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

Pearl is an evident symbol that sends multiple messages in the book. In the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne symbolism is quite evident throughout the text. In the case of Pearl, Hester's Daughter, she symbolizes many things in the text. Pearl forces Hester to deal with her sin and learn to cope with the consequences she faces resulting from what she did. Pearl helps send the message of the importance of forgiveness and consequences. She symbolizes the sin that Hester has committed and the shame Hester has to face. Pearl also symbolizes the connection between Dimmesdale and Hester and the guilt that Dimmesdale has to face for hiding his secret sin for so long.

Pearl, devil child or human? The Scarlet Letter, is a fictional novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, it takes place in Boston in the 1800’s. It is about a woman named Hester Prynne, who is an adulturist, a clothes designer, and a mother to Pearl. Hester committed the crime of being an adulturist with Arthur Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale doesn’t take the consequences of being Pearl’s father, he is a coward, and a sinner till the end where he finally confesses.

"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.

In the book The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, young Pearl is used mainly as symbols throughout the novel. As the daughter of the Hester, the adulterer, she is viewed as a witch and the beast who put the letter on her mother’s chest. She is a unique and interesting character that Hawthorne gives many concealed symbols to. Because she is a child, Pearl can naturally sense the emotions of adults.

Scarlet Symbols There are many different symbols in the Scarlet Letter. These symbols range from inanimate objects to living, breathing people. An example of a person being a symbol is Pearl. She is a symbol of nature but can also be a symbol of Hester's sin.

In Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, symbolism enhances meaning of the plot through the different functions of Pearl’s character. First, Pearl symbolizes the natural result of her parents’ sin. Pearl’s description in chapter 6 tells a lot about her character. “The child could not be made amenable to rules. In giving her existence, a great law had been broken; and the result was a being, whose elements were perhaps beautiful and brilliant, but all in disorder” (62). Later in the next chapter, Pearl is described as “the unpremeditated offshoot of a passionate moment” (69). Another way Pearl symbolizes the natural result of her parents’ sin is through her connection to nature. During the forest scene when Hester and Dimmesdale plot their getaway, Pearl follows the river, listening to its song and signing along (129). As she walks through the forest, Pearl communes with nature as a fellow “playmate of the lonely infant” (140-41). Since Pearl is the result of an unrestrained act of nature, she becomes one with nature around her.

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.

In the Scarlet Letter a novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Pearl serves as a symbol and constant reminder of Hester’s sin and only when Dimmesdale admits his transgression at the very end is Pearl released from her role and becomes truly human. This reveals that one’s actions often have immense effects

The Scarlet Letter can be interpreted in many ways and each and every person’s opinion might differ from another. Many objects are considered symbols throughout the book and all of them build up to the climax of the story. The biggest and most prominent symbol in the Scarlet Letter, in my own opinion, was Pearl. Pearl is the best symbol in the book because she is the living, breathing reason of Hester Prynne’s and Arthur Dimmesdale’s hidden romance, that led to pain, torture, and eventually death.

The Scarlet Letter begins with Hester Prynne and her newly born daughter, Pearl, standing on a scaffold. They are there as a result of Hester committing adultery. Hester is sentenced to wear a scarlet letter A on her bosom for the rest of her life. The man who committed the sin with Hester, Arthur Dimmesdale, remains silent while his sin eats him away from the inside out. Throughout the story, Hester’s husband, Chillingworth, seeks revenge on Dimmesdale. At the end of the story, Dimmesdale finally summons the courage to publically exclaim that he is Hester’s secret lover and soon after that, dies.