In Nathaniel Hawthorne's ,the Scarlet Letter ,little attention has been placed on the significance of the character Pearl . Pearl is the daughter of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale, she is also a living representation of her parents’ sin, love ,passion and change to come. Neither Hester nor Chillingworth constitute for Dimmesdale confessing to his sin. The only representation that Pearl would have to the story is helping Dimmesdale confess to the sins he so long wanted to do . If Pearl is the direct link between Hester and Dimmesdale , as they hold hands in the dark on the scaffold for the first time as a family, it would be preposterous to say that Pearl plays a dynamic role in Dimmesdale life . The general assumption can be made that
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According to McNamara “On a literal, factual, narrative level, this account of manifestations of change in Dimmesdale is pejorative. But on a figurative level, the opposite interpretation is possible and valid in the light of both antecedent and subsequent action”(McNamara 549) . On election day Hester sees a change in Dimmesdale but she does not know the reason why. Regardless, the only reasonable explanation on this would be that Pearl is the reason why. For instance, her rejection to him when he kissed her had conflicted Dimmesdale a lot. Pearl was always curious why Dimmesdale always placed his hand over his heart. “ Hester Prynne in the name of Him so terrible and so merciful who gives me grace at this last moment to do what for my own heavy sin and miserable agony I withheld myself from doing seven years ago and twine thy strength about me! Thys strength Hester but let it be guided by the will which God hath granted me ! This wretched and wronged old man is opposing it with all his might and the fiend’s ! Come Hester come ! Support me on yonder scaffold” (Hawthorne 278) With Hester and Pearl by his side he tells all the people of the sin he has committed. Meanwhile , Pearl senses something is wrong and places her hand on his knee . Dimmesdale exposes his sin and Pearl now understands why he always placed his hand over his heart. After his speech , Dimmesdale asks Pearl for a kiss and is granted one on his lips , which she once rejected in the forest scene. Pearl won , she got Dimmesdale to confess the sins that was killing him
According to McNamara “On a literal, factual, narrative level, this account of manifestations of change in Dimmesdale is pejorative. But on a figurative level, the opposite interpretation is possible and valid in the light of both antecedent and subsequent action”(McNamara 549) . On election day Hester sees a change in Dimmesdale but she does not know the reason why. Regardless, the only reasonable explanation on this would be that Pearl is the reason why. For instance, her rejection to him when he kissed her had conflicted Dimmesdale a lot. Pearl was always curious why Dimmesdale always placed his hand over his heart. “ Hester Prynne in the name of Him so terrible and so merciful who gives me grace at this last moment to do what for my own heavy sin and miserable agony I withheld myself from doing seven years ago and twine thy strength about me! Thys strength Hester but let it be guided by the will which God hath granted me ! This wretched and wronged old man is opposing it with all his might and the fiend’s ! Come Hester come ! Support me on yonder scaffold” (Hawthorne 278) With Hester and Pearl by his side he tells all the people of the sin he has committed. Meanwhile , Pearl senses something is wrong and places her hand on his knee . Dimmesdale exposes his sin and Pearl now understands why he always placed his hand over his heart. After his speech , Dimmesdale asks Pearl for a kiss and is granted one on his lips , which she once rejected in the forest scene. Pearl won , she got Dimmesdale to confess the sins that was killing him