Pearl Symbol In Scarlet Letter

Pearl and how she relates to sin in The Scarlet Letter
In The Scarlet Letter, a novel set in the seventeenth century in a Puritan settlement by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Pearl is a symbol that contributes to the role of sin throughout the entirety of the story. She is more of a symbol that is meant to supplement one of the main themes in the story, sin, rather than an actual character that has unique characteristics. She represents several things like a constant reminder of Hester’s sin, an embodiment of the main character, Hester Prynne, and is the backbone to one of the main themes in the story, sin. It is almost throughout the entire book that Hester is being constantly reminded about her sin, because Pearl is with Hester almost all the time. Pearl tends to ask about and point out the scarlet letter on her chest. This makes Hester uncomfortable because she does not want to be reminded about her sin and have to answer questions about what the …show more content…
If you observe, all through the novel, Pearl is an embodiment of all the negative adultery committed by the main character, Hester. She is Hester’s child, so in those times, people often associated the child as a mirror image, or reflection of the parents. The Puritans believed that children were born evil by nature, so Pearl being the daughter of someone who had committed adultery and is being publicly shamed, makes Pearl look more evil in the eyes of the townspeople than an average child would have looked. Hawthorn demonstrates how a parent will do whatever he/she can to protect his/her child from the rancorous views of society. Hester’s distinction was not just her own but Pearls as well. Pearl was able to learn about being unique when she was extremely young and that even if she doesn’t match up with social norm, such as Hester with the letter on her chest, she could still choose whether she wanted to be her own person or conform with what society thought was