FREE ESSAY ON THE SCARLET LETTER (PEARL_

THE SCARLET LETTER (PEARL_

In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, many of the characters suffer from the tolls
of sin, but none as horribly as Hester's daughter Pearl. She alone suffers from sin that
is not her own, but rather that of her mother. From the day she is conceived, Pearl is
portrayed as an offspring of evil. She is brought introduced to the pitiless domain of
the Puritan religion from inside a jail, a place where no light can touch the depths of
her mother's sin. The austere Puritan ways punish Hester through banishment from the
community and the church, simultaneously punishing Pearl in the process. This isolation
leads to an unspoken detachment and hatred between her and the other Puritan children.
Thus we see how Pearl is conceived through sin, and how she suffers when her mother and
the community situate this deed upon her like the scarlet letter on her mother's bosom.
Pearl is thought of being an evil child with demon like qualities, yet she is spirited
and very loving towards her mother.
Hester Prynn constantly questions Pearl's existence and purpose asking God, what is this
being which I have brought into the world, evil? or inquiring to Pearl, Child, what art
thou? Hester sees Pearl as a reminder of her sin, especially since as an infant Pearl is
acutely aware of the scarlet letter A on her mother's chest. When still in her crib,
Pearl reached up and grasped the letter, causing Hester Prynne [to] clutch the fatal
token so infinite was the torture inflicted by the intelligent touch of Pearl's baby-hand
(Hawthorne 66). The torture Hester felt was reflected by the significant reminder of the
sin that brought Pearl into life. Hester feels guilty whenever she sees Pearl, a feeling
she reflects onto her innocent child. In this manner, Hester forces the child to become
detached from society. Pearl becomes no more than a manifestation based entirely upon
Hester's and Dimmesdale's original sin. She is described as the scarlet letter in another
form; the scarlet letter endowed with life!(70). Or in other words a living child
demonstrating her parents sin.
Hester's views toward Pearl changes from merely questioning Pearl's existence to
perceiving Pearl as a demon sent to make her suffer. Hawthorne remarks that at times
Hester is, feeling that her penance might best be wrought out by this unutterable
pain(67). Hester even tries to deny that this imp is her child, Thou art not my child!
Thou art no Pearl of mine!(73; 67) It is small wonder that Pearl, who has been raised
around sin, becomes little more than a reflection of her environment. Hester believes
that Pearl is an instrument of the devil, when in reality she is merely a curious child
who cherishes her free nature and wants to be loved by her mother. 
Pearl is a very spirited child whose love for her mother is deep even though she does not
always show it. Hester feels guilty because she truly believes in her heart that it is
her sin causing Pearl to become aware of harsh realities of the world. Pearl responds to
this harshness by defending her mother, sticking up for Hester against the Puritan
children when they start to hurl mud at her. Pearl's lack of friends forces her to
imagine the forest as her plaything. However, she is clearly upset about her exclusion
from the people of the town, whom she views as enemies. The pine trees needed little to
[become] Puritan elders [and] the ugliest of weeds their children (65). Pearl acts to use
her environment as a basis for her personality:
She never created a friend, but seemed always to be sowing, broadcast the dragon's teeth,
whence sprung a harvest of armed enemies, against whom she rushed to battle. It was
inexpressibly sad- then what depth of sorrow to a mother, who felt her own heart the
cause! (65) 
"sprung a harvest of armed enemies" is a metaphor that Hawthorne uses in a way to display
Pearls imagination. Hester knows that her sin is the reason that Pearl has to imagine
friends because of the isolation from the Puritan people and their children.
By the end of the story, when Hester is finally able to release her sin, Pearl is no
longer a creation of a secret passion, but the daughter of a minister and a attractive
young woman. She is only from that moment onward able to live her life without the weight
of her mother's sin. In fact, Hawthorne points out that she is viewed as normal because
of the burden lifted from her soul: they [Pearl's tears] were the pledge that she would
grow up amid human joy and sorrow. 
Pearl is an offspring of sin whose life revolves around the affair between her mother and
Reverend Dimmesdale. Pearl stands out as a radiant child implicated in the sin between
her parents. It is only once the sin is publicly revealed that she is liberated by the
truth.
Bibliography
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