The novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, has many symbols. One of the most important symbols is Hester’s daughter, Pearl. Her purpose changes throughout the novel. Although in the beginning she is nothing but another reminder of Hester’s sin, she goes on to be an intelligent character who becomes a key part to the story. She helps the reader connect ideas that are not obvious. She also tries to bring Hester and Dimmesdale together. When there is a resolution to her purpose, she is no longer a symbol in the novel and goes on to live her own life.
Pearl’s purpose is to be another representation of Hester’s scarlet letter in the beginning of the book. Ever since Pearl was a baby, her mother notices the connection. On the scaffold she wants to cover up her letter with Pearl, but then realizes “one token of shame would but poorly serve to hide another” (50). Covering up the letter with Pearl would not do any good because like the letter, Pearl is showing that Hester has committed adultery. She shows this connection between Pearl and her letter again when she visits the Governor by dressing …show more content…
“He tore away the ministerial band from before his breast. It was revealed” (228). There was the letter A on his chest. After he does this, he asks Pearl “wilt thou kiss me now” so “Pearl kissed his lips [and] a spell was broken” (229). The spell that broke was Pearl’s odd behavior that she shows as a child. She would behave that way because before “she had not the disease of sadness, which almost all children...inherit” (166). When Dimmesdale dies, she feels “a grief that should deeply touch her, and thus humanize and make her capable of sympathy” (166). Her purpose finally fulfills, and she is no longer a symbol. Instead, “she would grow up amid human joy and sorrow, nor forever do battle with the world, but be a woman in it”
Pearl’s purpose is to be another representation of Hester’s scarlet letter in the beginning of the book. Ever since Pearl was a baby, her mother notices the connection. On the scaffold she wants to cover up her letter with Pearl, but then realizes “one token of shame would but poorly serve to hide another” (50). Covering up the letter with Pearl would not do any good because like the letter, Pearl is showing that Hester has committed adultery. She shows this connection between Pearl and her letter again when she visits the Governor by dressing …show more content…
“He tore away the ministerial band from before his breast. It was revealed” (228). There was the letter A on his chest. After he does this, he asks Pearl “wilt thou kiss me now” so “Pearl kissed his lips [and] a spell was broken” (229). The spell that broke was Pearl’s odd behavior that she shows as a child. She would behave that way because before “she had not the disease of sadness, which almost all children...inherit” (166). When Dimmesdale dies, she feels “a grief that should deeply touch her, and thus humanize and make her capable of sympathy” (166). Her purpose finally fulfills, and she is no longer a symbol. Instead, “she would grow up amid human joy and sorrow, nor forever do battle with the world, but be a woman in it”