Nathaniel Hawthorne Case

Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays the consequences of sin through the characters Hester Prynne, Author Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth in his book The Scarlet Letter but readers often overlook what Hawthorne was trying to portray through the daughter of Hester Prynne, Pearl Prynne. There are different ways to interpret what the author is trying to portray with Pearl. In the beginning of the book she is seen as the product of Hester's sin. As she is growing up throughout the book she is seen as a demon-like child to some of the towns people and a ray of sunshine to her mother and others. At the end of the book it shows the towns people are still fascinated with the scarlet letter on Hester's chest and little pearl by her side but do not mock them for it.

In the beginning of the book Hester is brought to the scaffold, used for punishment, in the market place with the beautifully embroidered scarlet letter on her chest and her new born baby in her arms. Hawthorne does a fantastic job of painting the emotion and drama of this scene on the scaffold in the market-place. Hawthorne knows the severity of the pain for not only the mother but especially the baby and writes: "Here, there was the taint of deepest sin in the most sacred quality of human life, working such effect that the world was only the darker for this woman's beauty, and the more lost for the infant that she had borne." (Hawthorne, 53-54). What he is saying is that pregnancy is "the most sacred quality of human life" for a woman but for Hester it was a sorrowful time because it was the product of her sin. Most importantly, it affected Pearl, "the infant that she had borne", in the worst way because her entire existence will be a product of her mother's sin and that might be the only way these towns people will she her. When Hester sees her husband, Roger Chillingworth, whom she has not seen in years, walk into the market place, she is mortified because she cannot avoid him seeing her up on this scaffold and her baby that is not his in her arms. When Hawthorne writes about an action of Hester's regarding the remembering of her sin, he shows that both the scarlet "A" and baby Pearl are evidences of her sin by using them side by side "in lue of these shifting scenes, came back the rude market place of the Puritan settlement...levelling their stern regards at Hester Prynne... who stood on the scaffold of the pillory, an infant on her arm, and the letter "A" in scarlet upon her bosom!" (Hawthorne, 56). Realizing that she cannot hide her sin from him, she holds the baby tightly causing it to let out a cry and "she turned her eyes downward at the scarlet letter, and even touched it with her finger, to assure herself that the infant and the shame were real." (Page 56, Hawthorne). Most mothers when they look down at their baby they see the greatest gift they could ever receive, but when Hester looks down at her baby, she sees her daughter as a curse from her sinful actions and a constant reminder of her evil.

Once Pearl is older the author dedicates an entire chapter to her. Hawthorne describes how odd it is to Hester that something that came from sin, that is so ugly, is growing to be so beautiful and intelligent. Hester looks at her child playing and Hawthorne shows her thoughts "How strange it seemed to the sad woman as she watched the growth, and the beauty that became every day more brilliant, and the intelligence that threw its quivering sunshine over the tiny features of this child! Her Pearl!" (Hawthorne, 84). Hester, who once looked upon little Pearl as a curse, at this point sees her more as a blessing than before. Hester lost every freedom she had and now all she has is Pearl. "She named the infant 'Pearl,' as being of great price- purchased with all she had- her mother's only treasure!" (Hawthorne, 84). Pearl was the only thing giving Hester any kind of joy now. Again, looking at her child playing she sees that "there was an absolute circle of radiance around her [Pearl] on the darksome cottage floor." Although it seems to Hester that everything in this cottage is dark and sad, Pearl gives her something to smile about. When Pearl ask her mother for sunshine she tells her she most find her own because she has none to give her. Hawthorne paints the image of Pearl's ability to light their "darksome cottage floor" and having to gather her own sunshine because her mother has none to give her to show that Pearl might have been born because of sin but does not let that determine how she lives her life. Instead, it shows she has the choice of light and dark. although she was born in sin, she does not have to live it out "In giving her existence, a great law had been broken and the result was a being whose elements were perhaps beautiful and brilliant." (Hawthorne, 86). Although she was a symbol of light in her mother's dark world, she always loved her mother's scarlet letter. Even when she was a baby in her cradle, when her mother bent down Pearl tried to grasp the "A" on her chest. She also throws flowers at the "A". These things symbolize the fact that although Pearl Brings light and happiness to her mother, she is still around for the same reason that Hester has to wear the scarlet letter on her chest for the rest of her life.

Although Pearl was a symbol of hope to her mother, she was a sign of sin to others and even had a hint of being of demon origin. No matter how Pearl would act, people of their town would always "inevitably [remind]

...