Pearl’s Impact on Hester

Posted on May 30, 2017 by Jack Morton

Pearl is a convoluted character, in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book The Scarlet Letter, with a lot of controversy surrounding her true demeanor and purpose.  She is the daughter of Hester Prynne, a woman who has been convicted of adultery and must wear a scarlet letter on her chest for the rest of her life.  Through Hawthorne’s words we see that Pearl has multiple facets to her personality.  At times she is a wonderful, intelligent, child who redeems Hester and allows her to move on from the negative impacts that the scarlet letter has.  At other times, glimpses of a darker nature can be seen as she seemingly afflicts Hester’s emotions knowingly.  However Pearl is a child who, like any other child, loves her mother.  Pearl’s impact on Hester’s life is a positive one in the end because despite the fact that she acts mischievously and accentuates Hester’s letter at times, she also brings joy into Hester’s life and keeps her on a righteous path.

Pearl is an impish child sometimes, which can reflect badly on Hester as well as intensify the pain that Hester feels because of her sin and consequent donning of the scarlet letter.  For this reason, a reader could interpret Pearl as the embodiment of Hester’s sin and a destructive force in her life, even though she is just a small child.  In one instance in the text, Hawthorne demonstrates one of Pearl’s unfortunate tendencies to defy the expectations and wishes of adults, especially Hester.  In this case, Hester is trying to show Reverend Wilson, Governor Bellingham, and others that she is worthy of keeping and raising Pearl to be a good worshiper of God.  Reverend Wilson poses Pearl the question of who made her. Pearl responds,  “with many ungracious refusals to answer good Mr. Wilson’s question, the child finally announced that she had not been made at all, but had been plucked by her mother off the bush of wild roses” (Hawthorne 100).   This response makes it seem as if Hester did not, or can not, raise her child to be a faithful worshiper.  If Hester is deemed unworthy of this task then Pearl, her only joy in this world, will be taken away from her.  

Additionally, the way in which Pearl “ungraciously refuses” to answer Reverend Wilson gives the impression that Pearl is not only not being raised as a good Puritan, but also as an ill-behaved child.  While some readers would argue that this is Pearl acting as a destructive force in her mother’s life, Pearl is actually just a defiant child who doesn’t wholly understand what she is doing.  Pearl also amplifies the effect of the scarlet letter on Hester Prynne.  For example, as they are walking through an old cemetery, Pearl stops to gather prickly burrs and,  “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” (Hawthorne 120).   Here, it is as if Pearl is adding another layer of pain and torment to the suffering the scarlet letter has brought to her mother.  Each time her mother is reminded of her letter it is painful.  When Pearl attaches these burrs to her mother’s letter, it is directly reminding her of her sin and all the pain that has come about because of it.  This is Pearl’s dark side coming through because she is aware of the significance and effect that the letter has on her mother, yet she does it anyway.  The way the burrs “tenaciously adhere” is identical to the way that the letter has tenaciously adhered to Hester.  When Pearl attaches the burrs she is only reinforcing this adhesion.  Pearl isn’t trying to enhance her mother’s pain by doing this, she is just a playful child who doesn’t realize that what she is doing is causing her mother great pain.

In spite of her negative actions, Pearl is a source of joy and a moral compass for Hester.  Pearl is the only thing that matters in Hester’s life after the scarlet letter.  When Hester takes Pearl with her to Governor Bellingham’s to discuss Hester’s custody of Pearl she is adamant about keeping her child.  After Pearl puts Hester in a bad light with her unfavorable response to Reverend Wilson’s question, Hester is forced to argue with everything she’s got saying, “‘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).  Hester is begging the governor and reverend to keep Pearl.  Pearl is the only thing that Hester cares about.  She argues that God gave her this child as compensation for the fact that everything else in her life had been taken away from her because of her adultery and the punishment that she was given.  With Pearl representing everything that Hester cares about, it is inevitable that she come to be her happiness and joy.  

Furthermore, because Pearl is the only thing that matters in Hester’s life, she is also the only thing keeping Hester from losing faith and turning to Satan.  After Hester, with the help of Dimmsdale, convinces Governor Bellingham and Reverend Wilson that she is fit to keep Pearl, she is confronted by Mistress Hibbins, a witch.  Ms. Hibbins invites Hester to join her in the forest at night to which Hester replies, “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), thus illustrating how Hester would be lost without Pearl.  If Pearl had been taken from Hester and given to another family to be raised, Hester would have given in and joined ranks with the Devil.  However, because of what Pearl means to Hester and the fact that she has been allowed to raise her, Hester is kept on a righteous path.  

Pearl has moments where she negatively affects Hester and moments when she is a positive influence in Hester’s life.  Her roguish personality leads to her reminding Hester of her sin and consequently causing Hester pain and torment.  However, she is still a child and although she realizes that her actions and the scarlet letter cause Hester pain, she is not fully capable of understanding why.  More notably, she is the source of Hester’s joy.  Because Pearl is Hester’s only occupation, she is the cause of Hester’s moods both good and bad.  Also, she keeps Hester focused on doing good for Pearl’s sake.  Pearl has a positive impact on Hester’s life, bringing her joy and keeping her from collapsing under the weight of her sin, even though at times her childish ways can hurt Hester.

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178 Responses to Pearl’s Impact on Hester

  1. Jack Morton says:
    May 30, 2017 at 10:10 pm

    I tried to show the full spectrum of positive and negative affects Pearl has on Hester. Overall, I think that Pearl affected Hester in a good way even though that she caused some trouble. I think that Pearl also helped Hester become the independent character that she is.

  2. bwaterman says:
    May 30, 2017 at 10:37 pm

    I think you’ve comprehensively explored Hester and Pearl’s relationship here, Jack. Well done.

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