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
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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
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
Hester Prynne, the main character of the book "The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, commits adultery, is considered a hussy, and has a child as the result of her sin. She cheats on her husband while he is absent from town and receives a harsh punishment for her behavior already. Hester is forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her bosom for the rest of her life. It is now on debate on whether or not Pearl should be taken away from her mother’s guidance. This is due to the fact that she is a sinner and might not be a qualified mother for her child.It is true, that no matter what you did in the past, a child is a blessing and parents change due to the love they have for their children. Therefore, Hester
Pearl is evil in many ways as shown, “Pearl would frown, and clench her little fist, and harden her small features into a stern” (Hawthorne 63). This was because her mother would sometimes just start crying and she resulted in a violent look, Pearl is seen as a child of the devil.
Other than being the child of a sinner, she is an angel at its brightest. Pearl is also sneaky, she deceived the Reverend, but without acknowledging the fact she was lied to by Hester. Pearl had been asked who her father was and Hester implemented the thought that the so called father is the Holy Father, God. So therefore, Pearl believes she is someone of special significance, that she’s the “single rose picked out of her Mother’s garden” and that she has no father, just Hester. Undoubtedly, Pearl will be lost in the future by feeling betrayed from her Mother. Hester depends on Pearl to be her savior, her Jesus, to cleanse her sins for her, but she do nothing but influence Pearl. Pearl is attached to her father and she remains attached to her mom, but even though she doesn't even realize who the father is when she discovers him, she will go to him and stay with him, and HEster will be isolated from society by not doing an act that the town cares about but what the family cares about. Pearl plays a significant role in keeping not only the family together but also the town, and the circumferencing
Pearl also challenges the conventional beliefs of the Puritans she lives among. “Pearl would grow positively terrible in her puny wrath, snatching up stones to fling at them, with shrill, incoherent exclamations” when other children surround her. This is retribution for the Puritan kids abhorring Pearl because she represents “ a born outcast of the infantile world. An imp of evil, emblem and, [with] no right among christened infants.” Pearl is more than an imp or emblem of evil; rather she is an outcast from the civilized world, so she can see things differently from the common world.
Mrs. Beverly December 2nd 2014 2nd block Celeste Benjamin Essay In the Scarlet Letter, Pearl is the daughter of the main character Hester. Pearl is the evidence of Hester having to live with the punishment of wearing the scarlet letter “A” that stands for adultery. Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author, makes a comment in the novel as Pearl dances by, “It was the scarlet letter in another form; the scarlet letter endowed with life. ”(Hawthorne).
‘It is for the same reason that the minister keeps his hand over his heart!’”(142). So Pearl is considered as the Scarlet Letter’s message conveyer and the letter’s personification; and she was also its prey. Her unfair treatment was in being deprived of a actuality of her own personality. At that instant when Pearl,s personality becomes genuine authentic and true, even so—when her duty to Hester is satisfied—she stoped to be a moral fiber in the tale.
Pearl’s role in the story, which is beyond her understanding, is to unconsciously advocate the scarlet letter. Pearl has always been fascinated with the scarlet letter. From had taken interest in the emblem since she was an infant. While waiting for the town-fathers to return to Governor Bellingham’s mansion, Pear takes interest in a suit of armor.
Pearl does not want her mom to deny her sin. She has seen what hiding something has done to Dimmesdale and does not want her mom to end up sickly like him. Hester puts the scarlet letter back on for Pearl. Pearl is the embodiment of sin. Pearl is a constant reminder for Hester that she can never escape from her
And I am thy little Pearl!’”(190). One of Pearl’s main purposes is to be a constant reminder of the scarlet letter. Her inability to recognize her mother shows that the scarlet letter is a part of who Hester is. Here Hawthorne also characterizes Pearl as devilish. In the text Pearl has outbreaks that make her seem evil.
Pearl is often accused of being a witch child, but Hester tries her best not to believe it. Hester does her best to be there for her daughter, even when she was faced with her own burdens. Even though she’s been through so much in her, Hester gives out all her love whenever she can. That proves that she’s become a pure and loyal person.
The only thing that she wasn’t allow to make was a veil for a bride. Over the years the town’s people still judged and shamed Hester and her daughter Pearl. Eventually they grew to be aware of Hester’s sin but not to openly show it because it was so well known among the town. Pearl Pearl is a child born of sin by Hester and Dimmesdale. She is a beautiful girl, always dressed in the most beautiful dresses that her mother had made.
Pearl’s birth creates a stigma around her, growing up without a
Even though Pearl is Hester’s greatest blessing, she also cost Hester her virtue. Hester knew that she committed a terrible sin
Pearl keeps me here in life!" This brief yet vital statement confirms the idea that with Hester's fall a new chance arrives, one for her daughter. And as time passes she receives one as well; for by laboring hard and keeping to her own Hester, who was once viewed as a blasphemous offender, is seen as the epitome of "a women's strength", her scarlet letter reading the word "Able". But even though she has become accepted, she cannot help but feel ever more isolated. Hester, as hard as she tries, cannot repent; her penance is an intangible illusion. She still lacks her former beauty, internal and external, and informs Pearl to, "Gather thine own sunshine. I have none to give thee." Her dearth, caused by her fortunate fall, causes her to question herself and her sex. Her heart, which had "lost it's regular and healthy throb", "wandered without a clew in the dark labyrinth of [her] mind." Her "individual existence" gave her a "tendency [for] speculation", allowing Hester Prynne to examine the "very nature of the opposite sex". But like too often occurs, "[the] persons who speculate the most boldly often conform with the most perfect quietude to the external regulations of society." Hester, although she benefits from her fall and rises above it, is unable to take the final step into the hostile world, the main difference between her