Pearl constantly reminds Hester of her sin but at the same time Pearl also brings Hester joy which shows Hester’s new thinking of how no one can be purely evil. The society looks upon Pearl’s intuitivenes... ... middle of paper ... ...illingworth, because she is a product of his wife sin, she is a source of pain but she also brings him happiness because she is a burden to his wife too. Through Pearl’s character, Hawthorne brings the question of good versus evil out. One cannot be there without the other so society, which is destined to sin due to the original sin, cannot be the real judge of good or evil. Pearl was a burden to Chillingworth, Dimmesdale, and Hester but she was only a burden because she was leading them all towards good.
(103) By doing t... ... middle of paper ... ...nts her conflict. Although she still is meek, she retains more inner peace. Enough inner peace as to be able to help others overcome their own sorrows. "…as Hester Prynne had no selfish ends, nor lived in any measure for her own profit and enjoyment, people brought all their sorrows and perplexities and besought her counsel, as one who had herself gone through a mighty trouble." (245) She becomes a more active and respected individual in society.
Pearl is an innocent girl who is shown as a devil, when in reality, she is just the opposite. The community’s perception of her keeps her isolated from the Puritan people, which cause her emotional pain. However, it can be seen that Pearl is the only good to come from Hester and Dimmesdale, and she deserves the life that she gets in the end of the novel. Pearl shows many themes in the novel and proves to have a lot of depth in her character. She is the one hope that the reader holds onto until the end of the novel.
See ye not, she is the scarlet letter, only capable of being loved, and so endowed with a million-fold the power of retribution for my sin?" (Symbolism in The Scarlet Letter). This shows that Pearl is more of an object of symbolism than an actual character. She also serves as the connecting link between Hester and Dimmesdale. She represents their love and passion for each other.
While there, she pleads with the Governor, magistrates, and ministers that she be allowed to keep Pearl, exclaiming, 'She is my happiness!--She is my torture, none the less! Pearl keeps me here in life! Pearl punishes me too! See ye not, she is the scarlet letter, only... ... middle of paper ... ...er to overcome the passion, once so wild that had brought her to ruin and shame." (Hawthorne, 165) It was Hester's motherly sentiments to nurture and love her child that saved her from temptation and from death and opened her heart to the poor and needy around her.
She also is a glimpse into the author’s beliefs, as his connection to Romantic beliefs rubs off on the character. Pearl, daughter of Hester Prynne, functions in the novel The Scarlet Letter as a physical representation of elements in the story and the author’s Romantic views. In the novel, Hester’s rebelliousness and energy are unique and contrast greatly with the bland Puritan ideals. From the beginning, the author’s positive diction and comparison of Hester to Mary help to characterize a woman with a pure spirit, despite her sin. Pearl, Hester’s daughter, is the embodiment of this spirit.
“You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14). In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter, a woman named Hester, who is abandoned by her husband for two years, is having an affair with the pastor, Reverend Dimmesdale. Hester gives birth to a daughter while her husband is away which leads people to believe that she is having an affair. The Puritans’s view of sin is very strict, so they believe Hester deserves a terrible punishment.Hester keeps the father hidden from the knowledge of the townspeople, so she receives the brutal punishment by herself. Throughout the novel, Hester and Dimmesdale react and cope with their sin differently.
The baby is Pearl and the name is given to her because she is worth so much to Prynne as in “her mother’s only treasure!” The beginning of the story sets the stage for what Prynne and Pearl will go through, it also sets up the state of a puritan utopia. The scarlet letter is given to Hester as a symbol of shame, yet Hester wears it with pride. The town frowned upon her due to her flashy manner of wearing the letter, but in reality, Hester wasn’t proud; the letter had become a part of her identity. She had accepted her sin as she accepts Pearl; she accepts her current state of mind. Pearl for the most part is r... ... middle of paper ... ...ritan doctrine holds them back to fully forgiving her.
She is loyal and trusting, innocent and pure, and her inner beauty is only matched by her outer experience. Her somewhat naïve personality however, leaves her exposed to the more worldly individuals, those who have learned how to take advantage of others through experience. What initially attracts many to Desdemona proves to be her downfall, and her Beattie 2 inexperience with the evils of the world leads to her demise. One's innocence attracts all types, yet this attraction may become lethal. Her husband, Othello, will protect her at any means.
The townspeople would consider her as an untouchable heathen who only only aired negative, evil energy. Children would be afraid of both Hester and Pearl as they c... ... middle of paper ... ... At the beginning of the novel when Hester is standing on the scaffolding, she does not reveal the secret that Dimmesdale desperately wants her to keep; the secret of his wrongful fathering of Pearl. Hester puts herself through much more stress than she needs to by not revealing this secret over a seven long years, but her love for Dimmesdale is the only strong evidence that keeps her from revealing it. It has been thoroughly justified that in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne is portrayed as the ultimate feminist heroine through the delineation of her crime and punishment. How Hester handles the consequences of her chastisement is what brings about the heroic feministic qualities of Hester as the main character.