Pearl And Chillingworth's Role In The Scarlet Letter

Lily Polonetsky, A December 19, 2016

Pearl and Chillingworth as truth-seekers

In The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Pearl’s and Chillingworth’s role is to encourage Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale to “show freely to the world” their crime. Pearl, Hester Prynne’s daughter, is conceived by Hester and Arthur Dimmesdale’s adulterous act and throughout the novel she acts as a reminder to Hester of her sin. Roger Chillingworth is Hester’s husband who arrives in town after surviving a shipwreck. Throughout the novel he continuously attempts to discover the identity of Hester’s lover. Both Pearl and Chillingworth coerce Hester and Dimmesdale to admit their guilt publicly by representing religious figures. Pearl is a source

Pearl is fascinated by the ‘A’ on Hester’s chest that she is required to wear by the Puritan community as punishment. In describing Pearl as a baby, Hawthorne writes, “But that first object of which Pearl seemed to become aware was—shall we say it?—the scarlet letter on Hester's bosom! (194)” Here, Hawthorne portrays Pearls connection to the scarlet letter by depicting her fascination with it from birth. From the moment she is brought into the world, Pearl connects with the scarlet ‘A’. Pearls connection to the scarlet letter is further developed when Hester dresses her is red garments with embroidered gold threads; this is the same way that Hester adorned the letter on her clothing. Pearl’s preoccupation with the scarlet ‘A’ acts as a reminder to Hester of her sin. By being a constant reminder, Pearl is ensuring that Hester stays true to her sin and is showing freely to the world who she

The angel and apostle of the coming revelation must be a woman, indeed, but lofty, pure, and beautiful; and wise, moreover, not through dusky grief, but the ethereal medium of joy; and showing how sacred love should make us happy, by the truest test of a life successful to such an end! (534)

From this quote it is evident that the “angel and apostle of the coming revelation” is believed to be Pearl. She is conceived of “sacred love” and will teach the Puritan community that one should be true to himself and show “how sacred love should make us happy.” By depicting Pearl as Jesus, Hawthorne demonstrates that Pearl wants to bring truth to the world so that everyone can “show freely to the world.” In contrast, Chillingworth represents the devil. He attempts to force Dimmesdale to show freely to the world that he is stained with sin. When describing Chillingworth, Hawthorne writes,

...there came a glare of red light out of his eyes; as if the old man's soul were on fire, and kept on smoldering duskily within his breast, until, by some casual puff of passion, it was blown into a momentary flame...Chillingworth was a striking evidence of man's faculty of transforming