Pearl as a symbol in Scarlet Letter
Pearl as a symbol in Scarlet LetterThere is quite a lot of symbolism in The Scarlet Letter and Pearl, Hester Prynne’s daughter, is one of the most important symbols. She is an ambiguous character and she is presented as several symbols. I tried to figure out how she was a gift from God to Hester, but the society thinks she is devil’s child because she is a product of sin and how she is a symbol of the scarlet letter.
Pearl is described as extremely beautiful, but lacking certain Christian qualities. “The child had a native grace which does not invariably coexist with faultless beauty; its attire, however simple, always impressed the beholder as if it were the very garb that precisely became it best,”(p.76) Hawthorne describes Hesters qualities. Whenever Pearl is mentioned in the novel she always seems be surrounded by nature and animals.
To Hester Pearl is at the same time a blessing and a constant physical and mental reminder of the sin that she committed. And she could not escape it. As if the scarlet letter A did not remind her enough of her sin. That way Pearl was God’s way of punishing Hester. Although Hester had so much trouble with Pearl, she still felt that Pearl was her treasure. Pearl responds to this harshness of the society by defending her mother, sticking up for Hester against the Puritan children when they start to hurl mud at her. That shows the love that Pearl feels toward her mother (p.86).
Hester is constantly questioning Pearl’s existence and purpose by: asking God, “what is this being which I have brought into the world!” (p.81) or inquiring to Pearl, “Child, what art thou?” (p.82) At times Hester is, “feeling that her penance might best be wrought out by this unutterable pain”(p.82). Hester even tries to deny that Pearl is her child, “Thou art not my child! Thou art no Pearl of mine!”(p.82) She was a kind of burden, yet love for Hester. Pearl was more then her mother’s only treasure.
God’s punishment for her sin was quite unique. He gave her a beautiful child, which she named Pearl. The name reflects that Hester had to pay a heavy price for her (p.75) and that she has a great value. Pearl is a symbol of innocence and the treasure of youth. She was brought into the world at the expense of her mother’s public life. Pearl is different from ordinary Puritan children so she is like a shining pearl in a sea.
Pearl is especially difficult to raise because she is anything but normal. Hawthorne gives a description of Pearl when he writes: “The child could not be made amenable to rules. In giving her existence, a great law had been broken; and the result was a being whose elements were perhaps beautiful and brilliant, but all in disorder; or with an order peculiar to themselves, amidst which the point of variety and arrangement...
To view the complete essay, you be registered.