Pearl is the daughter Hester gives birth to. Ever since birth she has recognized her mother for the scarlet letter she bears on her bosom. Everyone says she is the Scarlet Letter itself and was sent by the devil. Pearl is very energetic and sometimes malicious.…
In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the story’s protagonist, Hester Prynne commits adultery and is forced to live her life with the scarlet letter “A” embroidered upon her chest. The outcome of Hester’s “unforgivable sin” is her daughter, Pearl who is seen as a demon and symbol of evil by all in the Puritan village. Throughout the novel the author portrays Pearl as a foil character to her mother, Hester by showing major contrast and comparisons of the two. Hawthorne also uses the forest as a foil to the perfection of the Puritan society.…
The Scarlet Letter was a novel composed by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The events in the novel were dated back to the 17th century. The Massachusetts Bay Colony included the Puritans that were heavily influenced with the Church. With religion being their origin for both moral and government regulations, many things were outlawed. The Puritans obeyed strict standards and if anyone was to deviate from them, they were to be punished. Public humiliation and self-punishment were the common disciplines associated with The Scarlet Letter.…
She is the result of Dimmesdale and Hester's love for each other. Because of Hester's crime, Pearl is also discriminated because of her mother. "Behold, verily, there is the woman of the scarlet letter; and of a truth, moreover, there is the likeness of the scarlet letter running along her side! Come, therefore, and let us fling mud at them!"(Hawthorne 112). This quote explains how the Puritan children felt about Hester and Pearl. They wanted to fling mud at them because these children were probably told to hate them, and also of the crime Hester committed. Pearl is also considered a wild child, and very untamed and very unlike Puritan children."The child shall be well cared for!far better than tho canst do for it."(Hawthorne 124). And "The discipline of the family in those days, was of a far more rigid kind than now....Hester Prynne, nevertheless, the loving mother of this one child, ran little risk of erring on the side of undue severity. Mindful, however, of her own errors and misfortunes, she early sought to impose a tender, but strict control over the infant immortality that was committed to her charge. But the task was beyond her skill. After testing both smiles and frowns, and proving that neither mode of treatment possessed any calculable influence, Hester was ultimately compelled to stand aside and permit the child to be swayed by her own impulses." (Hawthorne 100). This quote explains how unlike Puritan child Pearl is, and how's she's offended. Pearl is considered wild and has no rules to follow, because Hester hasn't disciplined her. Because of this, the Townspeople want to give Pearl away to someone who's a better parent. Hester's sin has affected Pearl because she isn't treated with respect and she's considered the result of Hester's sin. Pearl is also considered a wild child that must be…
In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne one of the main characters in Hester Prynne. She is a convicted adulterer, and the story follows her starting in 1642 in a Puritan town. She and her illegitimate daughter, Pearl, along with her lover, Dimmesdale, and husband, Chillingworth, are the main focus of this dramatic tale. Through her actions and words, Pearl is a “device” to move the consciences of her parents to end their sinful situation. Pearl’s physical obsession with the scarlet A torments her mother, at one point making her physically put it back on, all while forcing her to confront her sins. Pearl also pressures Dimmesdale into acknowledging her as his daughter, and admitting his sins. Pearl is an important aspect of this tragic…
The rose can symbolize many things in life. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, the rose is a unifying symbol in the plot. One reason is because a rose bush appears in front of the jail where Hester was. Another reason is when the townspeople asked Pearl where she came from she said that she was picked from a rose bush. A final reason is that rose bushes are planted in front of the minister’s house when Hester goes to confront him about keeping Pearl. To conclude, the rose bush is a symbol of unification throughout the Scarlet Letter.…
She was a Pearl that didn’t want to hide; she wanted to shine brightly. Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author of The Scarlet Letter, introduces Pearl as a wise child who’s always striving to learn more. In Hester’s life, Pearl is given to her as a symbol of Hester’s past. Although Hester and Dimmesdale could have committed adultery without having Pearl, Hawthorne made Pearl a character to symbolize Hester and Dimmesdale’s actions. Pearl serves as a living example of Hester and Dimmesdale’s actions to Hester herself, Dimmesdale, the townspeople, and the reader.…
Hawthorne uses Pearl as a big source of symbolism in The Scarlet Letter. Pearl represents the unseen tumult that is inside of Hester, that even Hester herself cannot see. She symbolizes the secrecy of Hester and Dimmesdale’s love outside of the strict rules of the Puritan society. She represents how forbidden it was to love outside of a marriage or family. Pearl was a last hope for Dimmesdale to pass away peacefully and without regrets. She was her own hope for a better life and to fit in…
6) In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne employs figurative language to explain the symbolic character of Pearl before she becomes a woman. To Hester, her child who is often associated with sin is, “Her Pearl! ...she named the infant “Pearl”, as being of great price, --purchased with all she had, her mother’s only treasure!”(6,1). This allusion of the Gospel of Matthew, the merchant man seeking goodly pearls gave up everything to get that one pearl, similarly connects to how Hester gave up everything such as her home, friends, and dignity just to obtain her daughter, Pearl. Hester sustains the pain of abandonment and wrath from the Puritans just to keep Pearl; Pearl gives Hester a reason to strengthen herself and survive in this community…
Pearl becomes more than just a consquence of wrong doings but rather a blessing in disguense. This is enforced when Hawthorne says ” Pearl is more than a mere punishment to her mother: she is also a blessing. ( ) Throughout the novel, Hester uses Pearl as motivation to continue on with life and move past the ridicul she endures everyday from the entire town. Hawthornes demonstrates that Hester believes Pearl is not just the living emodiement of the scarlet letter but rather "capable of being "She is my happiness!....She is my torture!- "Pearl keeps me here in life" Hester relizes that God has granted her happiness through Pearl and the opprotunity to rid herself of the past to focus on loving and caring for her daughter in the present. Not only is Pearl a living unsumbalnce for Hester's actions but she is also Dimmesdale's "pearl of great price" ( ) when he finally owns up to his actions and gives up his live in an attempt to recieve forgivness from…
One of the most complex and elaborate characters in The Scarlet Letter is Pearl, the daughter of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale. Pearl, throughout the story, develops into a dynamic individual, as well as an extremely important symbol. Pearl is shunned because of her mother's sin. Pearl is a living representation of the scarlet letter - acting as a constant reminder of Hester's sin.…
Pearls have always held a great price to mankind, but no pearl had ever been earned at as high a cost to a person as Nathaniel Hawthorne’s powerful heroine Hester Prynne. Her daughter Pearl, born into a Puritan prison in more ways than one, is an enigmatic character serving entirely as a vehicle for symbolism. From her introduction as an infant on her mother’s scaffold of shame to the stormy zenith of the story, Pearl is an empathetic and improbably intelligent child. Throughout the story she absorbs the hidden emotions of her mother and magnifies them for all to see, and asks questions nothing but a child’s innocence permit her to ask, allowing Hawthorne to weave rich detail into The Scarlet Letter without making the story overly narrative. Pearl is the purest embodiment of literary symbolism. She is at times a vehicle for Hawthorne to express the irrational and translucent qualities of Hester and Dimmesdale’s illicit bond at times, and at others a forceful reminder of her mother’s sin. Pearl Prynne is her mother’s most precious possession and her only reason to live, but also a priceless treasure purchased with her life. Pearl’s strange beauty and deeply enigmatic qualities make her the most powerful symbol some feel Hawthorne ever created.…
During rough times, people usually abandon hope. In The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, one would expect that Hester Prynne to give up. Hester suffered a lot during the book; however, we can see that she still has hope in many ways. One of the ways is that she is always with her daughter, Pearl. Another way is when we see a rose bush when the times are hard. The rose bush is present during hard times and in ways that give Hester a sense of hope and faith. A way to keep Hester alive and full of hope was seeing Pearl with her, living her life, and sometimes nature also helped. Overall the rose bush and Pearl are symbols created by Hawthorne in order to show that hope and faith are always present; even through sins and difficult…
Pearl is a very intriguing character in The Scarlet Letter; she is Hester's and Dimmesdale's child and the embodiment of their sin. Pearl is used in contrast to puritan society and as human form of the scarlet letter.…
Pearl’s character functions primarily as a symbolic character that stands for her mother and the scarlet letter. Pearl becomes the Scarlet Letter brought to life. She is dressed in elaborate, scarlet garb as if to be a real-life scarlet letter. The narrator explains her as “the scarlet letter in another form: the scarlet letter endowed with life!”(Hawthorne 57). When Hester tries to discard the letter, she gets in a panic mode, as if Hester is actually discarding her. The author never really states the purpose of Pearl being the scarlet letter, but instead uses abstract ideas and prodigious vocabulary.…