Pearl “The Demon Child” Prynne

God has sent the worst human being on the planet to punish Hester for her crime of adultery in the book The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. He completely ruined Hester’s life. Pearl is the embodiment of sin and has been an outcast to society since the very first day she was born. This punishment torments Hester because whenever she looks at Pearl, it reminds her of what she had done. Hester could never live a satisfying life with Pearl always holding her back. Hester tries to see good in having Pearl around, but it is hard to see good when your child is the devil and its only purpose on earth is to punish you.

Pearl is compared to the devil many times throughout the book and brings embarrassment to Hester who already conveys the scarlet letter. She was often compared to Biblical references regarding the devil. Pearl is referred to as the devil when Hester asks Pearl if she is her child. Pearl says yes but reacted like the devil, “But, while she said it, Pearl laughed and began to dance up and down, with the humorsome gesticulation of a little imp” (Hawthorne 88). An ‘imp’ is a mythological creature often referring to as the devil, so this suggests Hester is being punished by the devil in the form of her daughter. Another instance is how Pearl acts in public. When Hester and Pearl were walking Puritan children wanted to fling mud at them, “after frowning, stamping her foot, and shaking her little hand with a variety of threatening gestures, suddenly made a rush at the knot of her enemies and put them all to fight” (Hawthorne 92). Pearl had scared off the Puritan children but brought embarrassment to Hester. Her actions were not necessary and were lunatic. Hester would live a much better life without Pearl, but the devil punished in a unique way, a child who she must put up with for the rest of her life.

Even though Pearl is a demon she still means a lot to Hester. Hester does not believe Peal was sent to punish her, she thinks Pearl wasa gift. Hester believes, “God, as a direct consequence of the sin which man thus punished, had given her a lovely child” (Hawthorne 80). Pearl is not seen in the eyes of Hester as being anything bad at all. Pearl also does good for herself sometimes. The second time was when Hester, Pearl, and Mr.Dimmesdale held hands on top of the scaffold, “The moment that he did so, there came what seemed a tumultuous rush of new life, other life than his own, pouring like a torrent into his heart, and hurrying through all his veins, as if the mother and the child were communicating their vital warmth to his half-torpid system. The three formed an electric chain.”(Hawthorne 138). Mr.Dimmesdale suddenly felt a rush of new life, as if he all his illness suddenly went away at the touch of his daughter’s hand. Although Pearl did these good things, she will always be an antagonist along with Chillingworth in the novel.

Pearl is a living, breathing reminder of her mother’s sin and often makes a point of reminding Hester of the letter. When Pearl and Hester were in the Governor’s Hall, “Pearl pointed upward, also, at a similar picture in the head-piece; smiling at her mother, with the elfish intelligence that was familiar on small physiognomy” (Hawthorne 95). Pearl pointed at the mirror that showed the letter, and Hester told her to stop. Pearl knew that Hester would have a negative reaction to the reflection and did it anyways. Pearl also decorated Hester’s letter with burs. “little Pearl paused to gather the prickly burrs from a tall burdock which grew beside the tomb. Taking a handful of these, she arranged them along the lines of the scarlet letter that decorated the maternal bosom, to which the burrs, as their nature was, tenaciously adhered. Hester did not pluck them off” (Hawthorne 120). Pearl took prickly flowers and arranged them on Hester’s A. Hester didn’t even bother with removing them because she knows that Pearl would throw a fit if she removed them.

It would be hard to find any good in Pearl’s existence if she was sent from God as a punishment. The puritans believed what Hester did should have been punishable by death. Death would have been more tolerable to Hester than having to put up with Pearl for the rest of her life. Hester will never be able to live a full and happy life all because she has the burden of Pearl. The A does not hurt as much as she gets older but the pain of having Pearl around sure will.