“Pearl: The Scarlet Letter Endowed With Life”
The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, includes a variety of symbolism, which plays a significant role in the book. The most significant symbol in The Scarlet Letter is Hester Prynne’s daughter, Pearl, whom Hester bore as a result of her sin of adultery. Hester “named the infant “Pearl” as being of great price, -purchased with all she had, -her mother’s only treasure!”(Pg. 31) As a consequence for Hester’s sin, she is forced to wear the letter “A”, for adultery, on her chest for the rest of her life. However, the scarlet letter is not the most severe consequence for her sin, Pearl gives Hester the most grief, “the scarlet letter in another form”. (Pg. 84) Yet, if it were ...
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from eternal sorrow. It was Pearl who acts as a guardian angel to Hester and Dimmesdale. She both guides them and teaches them the true lessons of life.
In the beginning of The Scarlet Letter, the infant Pearl represents the immoral love affair between Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale. The whole town recognizes the fact that Hester had committed adultery because her husband had not been seen for over two years, and Hester had just bore a child who was only a few months old. When Hester walks to the scaffold, ready to pay for her crime, she realizes that the infant symbolizes her sin of adultery. She opposes the temptation to use the child to cover up the scarlet letter; “wisely judging that one token of her shame would but poorly serve to hide another.”(Pg. 95) As the day progresses, the infant is “writhed in convulsions of pain, and was a forcible type in its little frame.”(Pg.111) In this, Pearl represents the agony and torture that Hester experiences during ...
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one thing that Pearl shows most fascination in is “the scarlet letter on Hester’s bosom! One day, as her mother stooped over the cradle, the infant’s eyes had been caught by the glimmering of the gold embroidery about the letter; and, putting up her little hand, she grasped at it, smiling not doubtfully, but with a decided gleam, that gave her face the look of a much older child.”(pg.18) Pearl also throws flowers at the scarlet letter, “covering the mother’s breast with hurts for which she could find no balm in this world.”(Pg.142) To Pearl, the scarlet letter is an awesome and interesting thing. When Pearl grows older, she too expects to wear the letter “A” on her bosom, because it is ...
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“Pearl: The Scarlet Letter Endowed With Life”. (2007, February 13). Retrieved April 25, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Pearl-The-Scarlet-Letter-Endowed-Life/60267
"“Pearl: The Scarlet Letter Endowed With Life”." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 13 Feb. 2007. Web. 25 Apr. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Pearl-The-Scarlet-Letter-Endowed-Life/60267>
"“Pearl: The Scarlet Letter Endowed With Life”." Essayworld.com. February 13, 2007. Accessed April 25, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Pearl-The-Scarlet-Letter-Endowed-Life/60267.
"“Pearl: The Scarlet Letter Endowed With Life”." Essayworld.com. February 13, 2007. Accessed April 25, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Pearl-The-Scarlet-Letter-Endowed-Life/60267.
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