Scarlet Letter Character Analysis Essay

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne’s sin mars her chest, but her true punishment, and salvation, dwells within her daughter, Pearl. Often described as a peculiar sprite, this impish girl proves to be a vital character in her mother’s development, and amplifies the correctional efficacy of the scarlet letter, though not in a way the Puritans had expected. Pearl is one of the few people who are able to reveal Hester’s true character, and she plays an important role in her psychological stability and support throughout the story.
As the product of sin, Pearl was born into a world that despised her existence and regarded her as an extension of the scarlet letter. Hester also recognized this connection when she was facing the Bostonians upon the scaffold. After trying to cover the letter with her child, she realized that “one token of her shame would but poorly serve to hide another” (Hawthorne 35). From birth, Pearl is portrayed as being a part

Throughout the novel, she continuously brought Hester’s attention back to the scarlet letter. In most cases, it was done in a manner of puerile games or innocent curiosity, such as when she “amused herself with gathering handfuls of wild-flowers, and flinging them, one by one, at her mother’s bosom; dancing up and down like a little eld whenever she hit the scarlet letter” (64). However, when Hester cast off her punishment by removing the letter, Pearl’s demeanor changed drastically, and she pointed to her mother’s bosom, and “stamped her foot with a[n] … imperious look and gesture” (141). Because all her actions focus on Hester’s ignominy, she enforces the correctional purposes of the scarlet letter, and ensures that her mother lives in constant repentance for her sin. This explains her vehement behavior after discovering that Hester had removed the letter prior to being purged of her