Scarlet Letter : Importance Of Pearl :: essays research papers

In the book The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a character is brought to life with a patchowrk of personality and her existance is one of amazing symbolism. Hawthorne introduces young Pearl Prynne. She is a bastard child who not only puts her unholy mother, Hester Prynne through much torment, but puts through hell the secret man who fathered her. Pearl affects Hester deeply in numerous instances throughout the story. Hester first decides to dress her daughter all in scarlet, the color of the shameful letter on her chest. During their adventures into the woods Pearl plays a game where she throws small flower spears at the 'A' on her mother's chest and when each stalk hits its target Pearl dances around gleefully, as if laughing at the fact of Hester's sin. Later, by the shore Pearl dons on herself an 'A' made of seaweed and parades around infront of her mother smiling and pretending to be like Hester: "Pearl took some eelgrass, and imitated , as best she could, on her own bosom, the decoration, with which was so farmiliar on her mother's."(Hawthrone pg171) Her father, Rev. Arthur Dimmsdale, whose identity is kept secret for most of the story, is tortured by the "elf-child" in many ways, but unlike Hester, he has the priveleage of not living with her. When Arthur sees Pearl in the Governers hall for the first time truly, his heart is in pain. The conciousness of his sin starts to weigh down upon him. Dimmsdale being a clergymen, is constantly begging for forgiveness in the privacy of his own home, trying to rid himself of the sin, and clean his hands of Peal Prynne, the devil spawn child of Hester. Later in the book, Arthur is found, half mad, on the scaffold, where Hester stood just 7 years before. There Pearl sets in her hooks, asking questions that send Dimmsdale unsteady: "Wilt thou Stand here with Mother and I, tomorrow noontide?"inquiered Pearl."(Hawthorne148) Pearl Prynne is a unique character, and as an authour, Hawthorne gives her many different hiddden symbols, all of which she was able to express with her fairy like childhood. "Pearl has for every reader some unreality too.