Gifts come in all shapes and sizes, even children. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the main character, Hester, has a child, Pearl, who was born from a relationship that was looked down upon by all of the townspeople. The way that this child was conceived made the town also look down upon Pearl. Even though this child was looked down upon, Pearl brought Hester a sense of redemption. Pearl kept Hester from making incorrect choices that would have set the rest of her life on the wrong path. Hester thinks of Pearl as a blessing, and she acts as the light that shows Hester what choices she needs to make to change her life for the better.
Pearl is Hester’s most meaningful blessing. After Hester gave birth to Pearl, she was labeled with a huge red “A”, marking her as an adulteress. Hester paid a great price to have Pearl. She was looked down upon by the townspeople, and everyone hated and wanted nothing to do with her. The argument can be made that because Pearl was born as a child out of wedlock that she is “an imp of evil, emblem and product of sin”(Hawthorne, 84), and Hester should be ashamed of her, “But she named the infant ‘Pearl’, as being of great price – purchased with all she had – her mother’s only treasure!” (Hawthorne 80) is showing that Hester threw her whole life away just to have Pearl. She didn’t have friends or even a husband after she had Pearl, which meant that Pearl was her most valuable possession. The gift that keeps Hester from becoming what the townspeople suspect.
When people in the town begin to think that Hester is a witch and that she is turning Pearl into a devil child, the town council invites Hester and Pearl to a meeting where the council intends to review Pearl and how she is developing as a child. Thankfully, the council doesn’t take Pearl away from Hester, and in turn, having to take care of Pearl keeps Hester from agreeing to become a witch. Hester herself declares, “Had they taken her from me, I would have willingly gone into the forest, and signed my name in the Black Man’s book too, and that with mine own blood!” (Hawthorne 105) Mistress Hibbins, a well known witch, asks Hester if she wants to come into the woods tonight and join the witches. Some people say that Hester wasn’t going to become a witch anyway, but this suggests that it was the presence and will to take care of Pearl that kept Hester from becoming a witch. It is also Hester’s blood in the form of Pearl that keeps Hester from becoming a witch.
Pearl gets a bad connotation for being an evil child throughout the book, but Pearl is cute and naive just like any other girl. She is fragile, and Hester takes it upon herself to take care of Pearl and provide a great life for her no matter the consequences. Pearl’s childlike aspects rub off on Hester, “So the child flew away like a bird, and, making bare her small white feet, went pattering along the moist margin of the sea.” (Hawthorne 152). Pearl is going to play near the ocean. It is when Hester goes to have a conversation with Chillingworth about matters that she doesn’t want Pearl involved in. One argument could be that the evil ways of Pearl outweigh the childlike ways of Pearl when she kills the jellyfish and breaks a seagulls wing, but Pearl grieving her actions afterwards show that she is just naive, and that she is learning like any normal child. Hester is trying to look out for her daughter that means so much to her. Pearl is just a young child, that wants nothing but to go and play in the water, and to look at pretty seashells. This isn’t the work of the devil.
In Hester’s eyes, Pearl is a blessing that allows Hester to be led on the right path after committing her sin. Hester adores Pearl, and Hester believes that Pearl is her most valuable possession. Pearl kept Hester from becoming a witch because of her innocence, and her value to Hester. Pearl is also a guiding light in Hester’s world of deep darkness. The light that shows Hester what choices she needs to make, to change her life for the better.
This paper was one of the first critical essays of the year, and it didn’t go perfectly. I think that I had the ideas in my head that I wanted to convey, but just couldn’t say it the right way on the page. The quotes I chose were strong, but it was the analysis that lacked. It’s one of those things where talking about it in person would have sounded much better, and made a lot more sense.