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Who Is Pearl In The Scarlet Letter

Decent Essays

Bittersweet
Even life’s sweetest moments can have bitter outcomes. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, the Puritans in seventeenth century Boston, Massachusetts, have strong moral beliefs regarding self indulgence. Born an outcast, Pearl is the product of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale’s forbidden passion. She is both a benefit and burden. Although she is young, she has wisdom far beyond her years. In many ways, Pearl is a curse for Hester; however, she manages to provide her mother with joy. Due to Pearl inheriting Hester’s stubbornness, she is extremely difficult to handle.
Pearl’s name symbolizes purity, even though her actions contradict this. She is quite troublesome; her frequent temper tantrums bring stress to her mother. Pearl is not only an outcast, but she behaves oddly in comparison to the other children. She was never able to create friendships among the others her age. “Pearl, in the dearth of human playmates, was thrown more upon the visionary throng which she created,” (Hawthorne 87). When other children mock her, she retaliates by pelting them with rocks. Similar to Hester, Pearl does not fit in with the Puritan community. She is deemed an outcast …show more content…

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! . . . she is my torture, nonetheless! Pearl keeps me here in life! Pearl punishes me too! Se ye not, she is the scarlet letter,” (Hawthorne 103). Evidently, Pearl’s bitterness negatively affects Hester. Although, Pearl is a curse for her mother, some could argue that she is a

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