Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

¶ … Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Specifically it will focus on the character of Pearl in the novel, including the affect of sin on her character. Pearl is not the most significant character in "The Scarlet Letter," and yet in many ways she is, because she is the character that really is most affected by sin - specifically the sin of her mother, Hester Prynne. Pearl is only a child, and all the action in the novel does not center on her, and yet, she is the enduring symbol of sin in the book, and so, she is central to the themes of good and evil, love and hate, and puritanical suppression that are all part of the novel.

The child Pearl is the enduring reminder of her mother Hester's affair with the Reverend Dimmesdale, and so she is a consistent token of sin to Hester. She is a striking child and she is as unique as her mother. Hawthorne describes her as "the beauty that became every day more brilliant, and the intelligence that threw its quivering sunshine over the tiny features of this child!" (Hawthorne 109). Even her name is important, as continues. He says, "she named the infant 'Pearl,' as being of great price - purchased with all she had - her mother's only treasure!" (Hawthorne 109). In fact, she is just about the perfect infant, as Hawthorne notes, "By its perfect shape, its vigour, and its natural dexterity in the use of all its untried limbs, the infant was worthy to have been brought forth in Eden: worthy to have been left there to be the plaything of the angels after the world's first parents were driven out" (Hawthorne 110). It is easy to see that Pearl is the epitome of perfection and yet ultimate sin in the book, but she also symbolizes the great love between Hester and Dimmesdale that culminated in the birth of their love child, but ended their romance. It is true their love can never be acknowledged, but it is always there in the background, and so, it is quite difficult for Hester to look at her beautiful and willful daughter without remembering her love for the minister.

Pearl is beautiful, and Hester enhances that beauty with fancy clothes that only enhance her perfection. Hawthorne describes her, "So magnificent was the small figure when thus arrayed, and such was the splendor of Pearl's own proper beauty, shining through the gorgeous robes which might have extinguished a paler loveliness, that there was an absolute circle of radiance around her on the darksome cottage floor" (Hawthorne 110). Perfect Pearl is splendid and radiant, but she is still a reminder to her mother of the things Hester has done wrong in her life. For example, she teases her mother about the "A" on her clothes, and even creates one to wear on her own clothes. Pearl has only her mother for a companion, because she cannot play with the other children of the village. She is just as ostracized as her mother, and so, she grows up lonely and isolated, which makes her even more interesting and seemingly set apart from the rest of the children.

Pearl's character has some of the devil in her, too. She does not act like ordinary "good" Puritan children of the time because she hates rules and regulations. Hawthorne writes, "As to any other kind of discipline, whether addressed to her mind or heart, little Pearl might or might not be within its reach, in accordance with the caprice that ruled the moment" (Hawthorne 112). When she and her mother run errands in town, she acts like an imp as the children other watch her antics. Hawthorne continues, "Pearl would grow positively terrible in her puny wrath, snatching up stones to fling at them [the other children], with shrill, incoherent exclamations, that made her mother tremble, because they had so much the sound of a witch's anathemas in some unknown tongue" (Hawthorne 115). She is a little monster, but the people see her as a "devil child," and are afraid of her. Hawthorne states, the talk of the neighbouring townspeople, who, seeking vainly elsewhere for the child's paternity, and observing some of her odd attributes, had given out that poor little Pearl was a demon offspring: such as, ever since old Catholic times, had occasionally been seen on earth, through the agency of their mother's sin, and to promote some foul and wicked purpose (Hawthorne 121).

The child also sometimes behaves as if she is possessed. Perhaps this is because she is being raised as a "little adult" by her mother. As an only child, she often seems much older than her real age, and this can also seem like she is possessed by an adult to the people around her. These actions frighten both her mother and the townspeople, creating the idea that she is somehow dark and terrifying in their minds. Other critics have also confirmed Pearl's darker side, noting that Hawthorne uses her as a symbol of the darker, devilish spirit the townspeople fear. Critic Alfred Reid writes, "The character of Pearl likewise exemplifies Hawthorne's tendency to allegorize spiritual phenomena" (Reid 117). Like most people, they see what they see and make it into something they want to believe. Pearl is different, and so she must be evil. It is clear she is not really evil, but she is frightening, at least to some, and that leads to even more ostracizing by the townspeople. So again, Pearl is affected by her mother's sin, and has to pay the price of the people ignoring her and having no friends or acquaintances.

All of the themes surrounding Pearl's character show she is caught in the middle between many undercurrents that she cannot possibly understand. She does not know how to act "normally," because she has no friends or anyone else to tell her what is wrong in society. She has no friends, no father, and no other advice from outside the cottage where they live. Her father will not even acknowledge that she is his child. When he finally does acknowledge her, he then promptly dies, leaving her even more alone and confused. She never gets to experience the joy of a loving father, and her mother is so often upset or depressed it was difficult or impossible Pearl to know how to act like other children around her. And so, she becomes a child of the devil, or an "elf-child" as Hawthorne sometimes names her.

Another aspect of Pearl and her character is extremely important, and that is that she is allowed to stay with her mother throughout the book. Critic Reid feels Hawthorne does this not only to symbolize her mother's sin, but to show the two united against the town that ostracizes them. He writes, "Hawthorne has Hester keep her baby with her throughout the punishment for its symbolical import. With the 'winking baby in her arms' and the ignominious scarlet letter sewed to her bosom, she walks through the marketplace" (Reid 15). Thus, Pearl inadvertently becomes a symbol of Hester's parenting skills, and how she was a good woman who eventually raised a good daughter, despite many difficulties. Hawthorne uses Pearl, an innocent child, to illustrate just how intolerant and unfair the Puritans really were, and her innocence and simplicity is all the more in contrast to their duplicity and hatefulness. It also shows how the sins of the parent seem to always have a way of affecting the child.