Scarlet Letter Good Vs Evil

Each and every character throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter, progressed in their own, unique way; although, Pearl developed the most in delightful and corrupt manners. During this entire novel, Hawthorne presents both good and evil, which certainly varies within the characters over time. This is explained in Hugo McPherson’s analysis of The Scarlet Letter: Hawthorne’s rejection of the Calvinist view of human nature, however, does not lead him to espouse the cause of man’s “natural goodness,” the Transcendental view. For him there is an ideal, perfect realm, and an imperfect, human realm. Human nature is inevitably imperfect. But the fatal error of the Puritans is their failure to recognize all of man’s gifts – to achieve …show more content…
The birth of little Pearl was out of the sin of adultery produced by Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale. She was first presented as a punishment to Hester since it was unknown whether Pearl’s birth was a positive or negative effect on Hester. At first, Pearl’s odd behavior puts a damper on Hester’s effort to escape the humiliation of the Scarlet Letter by reason of Pearl continuously pointing it out. Eventually, Hester realizes that Pearl is a symbol of the Scarlet Letter, so she must embrace it. In particular, Chapter III demonstrates Pearl rebelling by throwing flowers at her mother’s scarlet letter and while doing so, devilishly laughs. This shows the bad behavior of Pearl and it is believed that Hester did not discipline Pearl correctly, which added to Pearl’s poor …show more content…
She initially is viewed as a punishment toward Hester and eventually becomes viewed as a gift. Hester realizes that Pearl is what is keeping her going each and every day and understands that there has to be a purpose to why Pearl was born. Also, Pearl is one of the only things Hester is proud of and in the book it states that Pearl was a gift from God; “God, as a direct consequence of the sin which man thus punished, had given her a lovely child (98).” The name “Pearl”, which Hester Prynne had named her child was not because of what she looked like, it was thanks to Pearl being a treasure born at a great price; “Her Pearl! - For so had Hester called her; not as a name expressive of her aspect… But she named the infant “Pearl,” as being of great price, - purchased with all she had, - her mother’s only treasure (98).” Pearl was also a very observant child; “Children will not abide any, the slightest, change in the accustomed aspect of things that are daily before their eyes. Pearl misses something which she has always seen me wear (225)!” This is proven when Pearl misbehaves by not crossing the brook, although this time it is not Pearl’s fault; she does not recognize Hester without the scarlet letter. Pearl is not used to the change and obviously does not like it, so with this being said, Pearl generally