Pearl as a symbol
In the novel the scarlet letter by nathaniel hawthorne, hester’s daughter, pearl is used very interestingly as a symbol, and is the one to point out puritan flaws, and flaws in her parents, Arthur dimmesdale and Hester Prynne as their illegitimate child. Pearl is often referred to as very un christ-like things such as an imp and a little devil due to her ability to question people on their motives in the very oppressive puritan society. Her questions shock everyone around her, and she is described as a little girl with curly hair and pointed ears. The very significance and the symbolism in her character is a balance of nature versus society, sin versus human nature and how guilt balances itself out. Pearl’s very existence reveals the paradoxes about puritan society.
The mob mentality in the scarlet letter shows how ridiculous that the townspeople are about …show more content…
“The great black forest--stern as it showed itself to those who brought the guilt and troubles of the world into its bosom--became the playmate of the lonely infant, as well as it knew how” (178) This very much differs from puritan society as the puritans do not often go out into the forest. Even the minister remarks "'I have a strange fancy,' observed the sensitive minister, 'that this brook is the boundary between two worlds, and that thou canst never meet thy Pearl again'" (91) which does give a good view of the puritan world since they hold up the minister Arthur Dimmesdale to such a standard. Even Pearl talks about the black man in the forest, where she thinks that the minister, her illegitimate father has a scar on his chest from the black man in the forest. "And, mother, he has his hand over his heart! Is it because, when the minister wrote his name in the book, the Black Man set his mark in that place? But why does he not wear it outside his bosom, as thou dost, mother?"
In the novel the scarlet letter by nathaniel hawthorne, hester’s daughter, pearl is used very interestingly as a symbol, and is the one to point out puritan flaws, and flaws in her parents, Arthur dimmesdale and Hester Prynne as their illegitimate child. Pearl is often referred to as very un christ-like things such as an imp and a little devil due to her ability to question people on their motives in the very oppressive puritan society. Her questions shock everyone around her, and she is described as a little girl with curly hair and pointed ears. The very significance and the symbolism in her character is a balance of nature versus society, sin versus human nature and how guilt balances itself out. Pearl’s very existence reveals the paradoxes about puritan society.
The mob mentality in the scarlet letter shows how ridiculous that the townspeople are about …show more content…
“The great black forest--stern as it showed itself to those who brought the guilt and troubles of the world into its bosom--became the playmate of the lonely infant, as well as it knew how” (178) This very much differs from puritan society as the puritans do not often go out into the forest. Even the minister remarks "'I have a strange fancy,' observed the sensitive minister, 'that this brook is the boundary between two worlds, and that thou canst never meet thy Pearl again'" (91) which does give a good view of the puritan world since they hold up the minister Arthur Dimmesdale to such a standard. Even Pearl talks about the black man in the forest, where she thinks that the minister, her illegitimate father has a scar on his chest from the black man in the forest. "And, mother, he has his hand over his heart! Is it because, when the minister wrote his name in the book, the Black Man set his mark in that place? But why does he not wear it outside his bosom, as thou dost, mother?"