As Hester displays the results of adultery alone on the scaffold, the crowd immediately likens Pearl to her mother’s scarlet letter. In this first major scene, Hawthorne forces the reader to see the baby as an object. Standing before all, Hester conceals her scarlet letter with her child, but once she realizes that they are both symbols of her shame, she uncovers her letter. Right away, Pearl and her name represent her great price to her mother. Yet the child is also her most precious possession, and Hester knows that she was created naturally like any other child. She stands before all as her hidden lover Dimmesdale speaks, …show more content…
Reverend Dimmesdale, the concealed father, hides his sin from the public, refusing to publicly acknowledge his actions. However, in several occasions including the scaffold scene, he secretly recognizes Pearl and his relationship to her. In each of these appeals, Hawthorne develops Pearl as a “character of flame” (Hawthorne 181). Wellborn asserts that Hawthorne is alluding to Pearl’s religious