How Does Hester Prynne Have An Alter Ego In The Scarlet Letter

In the novel The Scarlet Letter, is Hester Prynne’s wild, free-spirited daughter. She seems to almost be an alter ego of Hester’s. Pearl is almost a metaphor created by the author in order for the story to seem more real. When someone has an alter ego, it is almost like they are two people in one. One second they could be happy and care-free, and the next, they might be evil and harmful to others or themselves. Hester is a strong, independent woman, but she seems to have another side to her that Nathaniel Hawthorne mentions. Like any novel, there are clues throughout that allow readers to think the end result, or solution, to the storyline. There is evidence that Hester has an alter ego in The Scarlet Letter who is Pearl. The first signs that Hester is different happens in the second chapter when she stands on the scaffold as well as in chapter four when she is being held in a cell afterwards. The author writes that Hester gives a haughty smile as she stands among the crowd, proving that she knows what she did is wrong, but she feels no remorse for it. No

When the children in the streets are mocking Pearl because of her mother’s sin, Hester does not react in any way. Even though it is said that Hester felt the need to cuddle her newborn daughter for her safety from the large crowd, it seems to be the only moment when she shows compassion for her baby. Maybe Hester never has motherly instincts because she is not a mother; Pearl is not real. Hester may be so ashamed of her sin that inside she feels like a baby being yelled at; therefore, the creation of Pearl in her imagination came to mind. As the years pass by, Hester’s alter ego continuously mature from a baby to a child and eventually, her other half consumes her, leading Hester to want another sinful path with Mr. Dimmesdale as opposed to her newly developed conservative