Was Prince Right?

Prince once said: “No child is bad from the beginning, they just imitate their atmosphere.” The same can be said for Pearl, one of the central characters, was not bad from the beginning, she just saw the world she was living in and adapted to the atmosphere of the world. In the book, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathanial Hawthorne, Pearl is the daughter of Hester, who had committed one of the worst sins: adultery and was branded with the letter A which is called a scarlet letter. She is very embarrassed by the letter, as anyone would be. Out of the sin of adultery, she had Pearl who many people thought to be evil, including Hester sometimes, however seeing the whole picture, she is a source of joy for Hester. Pearl is a source of joy towards Hester and is sent from the heavens because she saved her mom from the temptation to party in the woods, Pearl attacked the kids who were throwing mud at her and her mother and making fun of her, and finally, God gave Pearl to Hester for a reason. 

Pearl was definitely a source of joy for Hester, even though people think she is evil. After talking to the Governor, Chillingworth, and Dimmesdale about who has guardianship of Pearl, Hester and Pearl were about to leave, but the Mistress in the house had come up to her. She knew of Hester’s crime, and so did the whole town and she invited her to the party, but Hester said no. She was worried if she went, she would lose Pearl forever and after fighting for Pearl the way she did, that is the last thing she wants in the world. Hester’s explanation to not going, according to the narrator: “Had they taken her from me, I would willingly have gone with thee into the forest, and signed my name in the Black Man’s book”(Hawthorne 105). What she means by this is if they had taken Pearl away from Hester, she would have gone without any hesitation. She exaggerated a little bit what she would do, but she was serious about the fact that she would have taken the invite. Pearl was the one who saved her because Hester is so loyal to Pearl, she just couldn’t get herself to go, which means she truly deserved to keep Pearl. Pearl can also get pretty violent also, which is why people think she is evil. 

Pearl would, for the most part, act mischievous to other people and in front of other people. When Pearl and Hester were walking to have the meeting with the governor about guardianship, these children had recognized them and started to cause havoc. They started by mocking Hester about her scarlet letter on her bosom, which makes Pearl extremely mad. After she had gotten over it, they decided they wanted to start throwing mud at them, and that was crossing the line for Pearl as she, according to the narrator: “was a dauntless child, after frowning, stomping her foot, shaking her little hands with a variety of threatening gestures, made a rush at the knot of her enemies and out them all to fight”(Hawthorne 101). She had got so mad, she just couldn’t control herself, which wasn’t a rare occasion, and just chased them. Those kids weren’t that different from her as they always do these types of things, and never get in any trouble, but it is Hester and Pearl, the two jokes of the town. Hester is used to this type of thing happening because it has been happening every time she goes in public for about a couple years. Pearl is obviously much younger, around three years old and has some pretty bad behavioral problems, including anger problems which is why she acted the way he did. However, Pearl also has a very enjoyable and delightful side to her. 

“was a dauntless child, after frowning, stomping her foot, shaking her little hands with a variety of threatening gestures, made a rush at the knot of her enemies and out them all to fight”(Hawthorne 101).

Hester describes Pearl as her happiness several times even though no one else see’s that side of her.  Hester can’t go a day without her and vice versa. Although Hester deeply enjoys when Pearl is asleep, she deeply enjoys her presence. Hester thinks of Pearl as a gift from God, but other people think of her as Hester’s punishment; they think of her as only being born to make Hester’s life a living hell, but it is quite the opposite,as seen in the moment when: “God gave me the child,’ cried she. ‘He gave her, in requital of all things else, which ye had taken from me. She is my happiness”(Hawthorne 101). No one understood how much Hester loved Pearl as she would always get her the most expensive items like clothing which Hester would make because she was an embroiderer, and she was the town’s best embroiderer. Hester deeply loved her child, even though she was supposed to be the punishment for her sin. Pearl has a lot of good in her, especially more than anyone knows of, probably including Hester also. An example of that is when Pearl snuggled up with Dimmesdale, her real father, which was peculiar because that side of her wasn’t shown often.  The Scarlet Letter, by Nathanial Hawthorne, has many examples of how brutal the Puritans could be, the big one being the scarlet letter branded on Hesters chest. Hester knew she had made a big mistake, especially when she was publicly shamed for it, which, according to the narrator, made the rest of her life extremely miserable, as you can infer from the way she lives and carries herself. Pearl was a blessing to Hester because she was a main source of happiness for her, always helping her in times of need, and denying events that seem hard to let go. She was undoubtedly in love with her child, and these events explained were the main reasons on why she was a blessing to Hester.  Just because a child can behave rudely, doesn’t mean her heart is full of mold because that is the way of Pearl.