Scarlet Letter Pearl Essay

Pearl as the Only Redemption for Hester

Should a child be blamed for the parent’s sin? In the book The Scarlet Letter, the narrator Nathaniel Hawthorne sets up an interesting character, Pearl, the daughter of Hester Prynne and Dimmesdale. The role that Pearl plays in Hester’s life is controversial. Some argue that Pearl is a torment for Hester. Her behaviors and birth actually represent Hester’s sin. However, Pearl can also be seen as the only source of joy and redemption that Hester has in her life because of Pearl’s lawless behavior and characteristics, and Pearl’s existence brings Hester hope to live on. She should not be blamed for the sin of her mother.

Pearl’s behavior has shown her personality; she is lawless and wild, but she definitely has cleverness and tenderness. Some might think these behaviors cause pain for Hester. When the town’s children throw mud on Hester and Pearl, Pearl’s reacts defensively: “She screamed and shouted” like “an infant pestilence” when fiercely pursuing them (Hawthorne 92). However, this behavior is more like a self-protection. Pearl is very clever about what she should do to protect not only herself, but also her mother, Hester. In addition, the behavior itself is not irrational, nor does she over-react. Before Pearl chases the children, she starts “frowning, stamping her foot, and shaking her little hand with a variety of threatening gestures” (Hawthorne 92). Pearl’s behavior of ‘frowning, stamping her food’ indicates that she does not want to make trouble for her mother, as she warns those children with gestures first. Pearl is never the one who starts the fight. In fact, she only reacts and fight back to whoever hurts her. Pearl’s behavior is helpful to Hester because Hester is blamed by public, and Pearl is the only one that stands up for her.

While Pearl’s behaviors serve as a protection, Pearl’s existence serves as a hope for Hester. When the Governor tries to take away Pearl from Hester, Hester’s reaction clearly declares that Hester cannot live without Pearl. She shouts: “Pearl keeps me here in life!” (Hawthorne 101). One might argue that Hester does not want to give away Pearl because Pearl is her own daughter. However, as Hester’s words suggest, she recognizes Pearl as her only redemption for her sin. Hester thinks for many times to kill herself and Pearl: “At times, a fearful doubt strove to possess her soul, whether it were not better to send Pearl at once to heaven, and go herself to such futurity as Eternal Justice should provide” (Hawthorne 150). She has an idea to ‘send Pearl to heaven’ and ‘go herself to Eternal Justice’, in order to receive a redemption. However, Hester later finds out what Pearl really means to her: “Providence, in the person of this little girl, had assigned to Hester’s charge the germ and blossom of womanhood, to be cherished and developed amid a host of difficulties” (Hawthorne 149). The ‘cherished and developed amid a host of difficulties’ womanhood suggests that Hester feels responsibility of raising Pearl, which gives her will to live.

Sometimes, Pearl’s behavior with her cleverness successfully express what Hester cannot possibly address, and in this way Pearl is speaking to redeem Hester. When Hester, Pearl and Dimmesdale, father of Pearl, stands on the stage without being seen, Pearl asks Dimmesdale: “Wilt thou stand here with mother and me, to-morrow noontide?” which is the question what Hester wants to raise up (Hawthorne 138). Although Pearl does not understand what happened behind the scarlet letter, she has a feeling of connection between three of them. Pearl wants Dimmesdale to stand ‘to-morrow noontide’, in front of public, to show their connection, in fact, the sin. It suggests that Pearl is looking for the redemption for Hester: Love. The sin has changed Hester to a woman without tenderness. Pearl asks this question for her mother, attempting to bring happiness back into her life. Her behavior suggests that she is the redemption of Hester.

Pearl’s lawless actions protect Hester, and Hester’s will to live rests totally on the reason of Pearl’s existence. At the same time, Pearl speaks out the sentence that Hester wants to ask, helping Hester to understand the attitude of Dimmesdale. Pearl herself never commits a crime, and she should not be blamed for Hester’s sin. Although many think that Pearl’s lawless behaviors build her a torment to Hester, the intention behind them is actually served as a redemption for Hester.