The Symbolism Of Pearl In The Scarlet Letter

The Symbolism of Pearl Hawthorne used Pearl as a main source of symbolism throughout the whole novel. Not only was Pearl’s physical appearance used as as a backbone to symbolism but her emotional state and origin too. Without Hester’s daughter, the novel would have lost much of its meaning, for she interprets part of the moral to the story and distinguishes herself upon the Puritan ways. Pearl symbolizes and represents more than one idea at various times. In addition to that, most of the symbolism she holds sticks with her, although, she represents more as the years go by. Pearl is interpreted differently by every person making her symbolism completely diverse, and unique to each person. The “elf child” represented a lot between Hester

According to Hawthorne “It was the scarlet letter in another form; the scarlet letter endowed with life” (Hawthorne 112). Pearl could physically and emotionally be compared to the scarlet letter. All knew that she was the product of sin; therefore, she was seen as a version of the scarlet letter through her origin. Furthermore, Hester dressed her child just as if she was the very scarlet letter on her bosom. She dressed Pearl in fine embroidered clothes with gold thread, which was basically a bigger image of the letter itself. The letter itself is a symbol of Hester’s sin and it is used as an emblem to show the public that she is guilty of a great offense to the Puritan

An imp of evil, emblem, product of sin” (103). According to the quote, it can be inferred that Pearl was condemned to have a bad life since the beginning of the novel. She was referred to as an “elf child”, and many times as the offspring of the demon. Children constantly taunted her and put her down, making her react incorrectly. Pearl was taught to live without the approval of of God, because of all she represented. But in the end she overcame everything and she became the richest heiress of in the new world, due to all the land Chillingworth had left for her. Hester’s daughter showed that one can fight off all the bad things in life. According to Hawthorne, in the end she married a man whom which she had a child with. But most importantly, she kept the relationship with her mother strong because she would send her trinkets and letters oftenly (Hawthorne 288). Overall Pearl was a crucial symbol in the novel. She represented hope, love, passion, fear, the scarlet letter itself, and in the end she was the representation of overcoming anything. Hester’s daughter was also a representation of the moral. In other words, the moral said to be true and to show one’s flaws and that is exactly what Pearl did. She was always true to herself and to others, constantly being judged by her flaws, but she did not