She is, in fact, the personification of that act. Even as a baby, she instinctively reaches for the scarlet letter. Hawthorne says it is the first object of which she seemed aware, and she focuses on the letter in many scenes. She creates her own letter out of moss, sees the letter in the breastplate at Governor Bellingham's mansion, and points at it in the forest scene with Hester and Dimmesdale.
As a symbol, Pearl always keeps Hester aware of her sin. Just as Dimmesdale cannot escape to Europe because Chillingworth has cut off his exit, Pearl always keeps Hester aware that there is no escape from her passionate nature. The Puritans would call that nature "sinful. Hawthorne's handling of mirror images has both the goal of representing the passionate, artistic side of man and also the idea that life's truths can be pictured in mirror images.
Hester looks into "the black mirror of Pearl's eye" and she sees "a face, fiend-like, full of smiling malice, yet bearing the semblance of features that she had known full well, though seldom with a smile, and never with malice in them. If so, Pearl is the embodiment of that passion. The poetic, intuitive, outlawed nature of the artist is an object of evil to the Puritans.
As a symbol, Pearl represents that nature. As she looks in the brook in Chapter 19, she sees "another child, — another and the same, with likewise its ray of golden light. Filled with the glory of sunshine, sympathetic, but only "somewhat of its [Pearl's] own shadowy and intangible quality," it is the passion of the artist, the outlaw.
This is a passion that does not know the bounds of the Puritan village. In the forest, this passion can come alive and does again when Hester takes off her cap and lets down her hair. His references to Hester and to buried sin are designed to remind Dimmesdale of his guilt. He now fulfills this evil promise: even the townspeople now regard him as the Devil come to tempt and torment their virtuous reverend. Covertly tortured by the doctor, Dimmesdale searches for something to soothe his suffering.
He envies those who can display their agonies publicly. And Dimmesdale can never atone, because he can never confess. Whereas the men represent authority Dimmesdale the authority of the church, Chillingworth that of accumulated knowledge , Pearl has no respect for external authority and holds nothing sacred. Similarly, whereas the two men deeply respect their forebears, Pearl has no such respect for inherited history. Yet Pearl is not merely a negative figure; she is also a positive element, because she illuminates truths and seeks to open closed minds.
Ace your assignments with our guide to The Scarlet Letter! Death of a Salesman Dr. Jekyll and Mr. SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. First Name. Last Name. Email Address. Opt-in to important GradeSaver updates! Have an Account? What does Dimmesdale believe he sees when the meteor lights up the night sky? How does Pearl react when she first sees her mother without the scarlet A?
What makes Hester and Reverend Dimmesdale finally feel hope about their future? Why does Hester choose the forest to meet Dimmesdale and Chillingworth? What does the last sentence of the novel mean? Society Empathy. Summary Chapters See Important Quotes Explained.
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