In other words, Pearl is considered Hester’s curse. She is the one who was blamed for all the trouble that our main characters came across. Readers tend to put down Pearl’s role in the novel. Actually, as contradicting as it may sound, I was one of those readers. However, now I believe that she deserves more credit than she gets.
Although there are many symbols in the novel, Pearl stands out because she symbols Hester’s sin, love and passion, and she symbolizes good and evil. Throughout the book, Pearl is shown as a symbol of Hester's sin. In The Scarlet Letter, it says “But she named the infant “Pearl”, as being of great price, purchased with all she had, her mother's only treasure!”(Hawthorne 81). This is showing that Hester loves Pearl, but feels bad that she has to live her life being the product of sin. In the novel, Hester is always reminded of her sin and Pearl is the product of Hester and Dimmesdale's sin.
When Dimmesdale passed, Pearl was only seven years old. Her substance is to induce the adult characters in the story. In conclusion, Pearl was a very unique character in this story. She had a main purpose and was very important in every aspect. Without the adultery between Hester and Dimmesdale, Pearl would not have ever been born and the story would not have ended or turned out the way it did in the end.
By Hester realizing this, it shows to the reader that Pearl can be a “sin” and a “blessing” all at the same time. She is the physical sin as Pearl is the true punishment of what Hester has to deal with everyday for the rest of her life. On the other hand, she is a blessing for she gives Hester a reason to continue
Hawthorne portrays Pearl an innocent child who symbolizes moral freedom. She is not destined to commit the same sins as her mother. It is Pearl’s pwn choice to choose if she wants to act the same way as Hester, or learn from Hester’s mistakes. Comparable to Pearl, the forest symbolizes a moral freedom. People can go in the woods to do bad things.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses symbols to reflect Hester's problems with The Scarlet letter, the meteor and pearl. The first form of symbolism and most mentioned symbols throughout the book is the “A”. The scarlet letter is the letter “A” worn by Hester Prynne and, the letter that is embroidered onto all of Hester's clothing. The letter “A” represents hester's sin adultery. The letter marks Hester as a sinner.
Rossi1 Matthew Rossi Asha Appel English 4 11/15/14 Growing up Through the Actions of Others In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne Pearl changes when different characters thoughts and believes are portrayed through voice or objects. This leads her to be very malleable to and be ever evolving. The townspeople, Hester, and Dimmesdale now play a key role in shaping Pearl from a product of sin into a god like child. Different characters affect Pearl because they allow her to see herself from different points of view. This allows pearl to change and adapt herself to fit in different scenes and parts of the story.
She grows stronger and realizes that Pearl is a symbol of passion and represents her life choice and that it isn't so bad, Hester dealt with it and made the best of it. Symbols stand for something deeper than what they appear. They can can change the way an audience takes in information form the story and gives them different appeals from each character. Throughout the scarlet letter, Pearl represents three main symbols. Most of them bad but the last and most important is good.
We are all sinners, no matter how hard we try to hide our faults, they always seem to come back, one way or another. Written in the 19th century, Nathaniel Hawthorne shows us Hester Prynne and how one sin can change her life completely. Hester Prynne changes a great deal throughout The Scarlet Letter. Through the view of the Puritans, Hester is an intense sinner; she has gone against the Puritan way of life committing the highest act of sin, adultery. For committing such a sinful act, Hester must wear the scarlet letter while also having to bear stares from those that gossip about her.
Pearl is a complicated symbol of an act of love and passion. This child is not meant to be a realistic character but rather a symbol of Hester’s sin, blessing and scarlet letter. Pearl is the scarlet letter, a blessing and curse, and the love and passion of a dangerous relationship. More than a child Pearl is a symbol of the love and passion between Hester and the minister. Pearl is a symbol that connect her parents forever even if they couldn’t be together.