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I. Introduction II. A Living Letter III. the Elf-Child IV. Pearl & Nature V. Conclusion Images |
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Mikeal Basile
Sarah Ferracane Crystal Jennings Cynthia Lin Diane Zaneti |
Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, possesses many themes. Here, Pearl and three of her facets will be discussed. The daughter of Hester Prynne is most strongly portrayed as the living scarlet letter, a devilish imp, and a kindred spirit to the wild forests. Let us first take a look at the living letter.
The scarlet letter Hester Prynne wears upon her bosom and the babe Pearl who rests upon it, are two manifestations of a single underlying theme; that of a blessing and a punishment. Hester's first thoughts of Pearl are clearly full of rejoice, "God, as a direct consequence of the sin which man thus punished, had given her a lovely child, whose place was on that same dishonored bosom, to connect her parent forever with the race and descent of mortals, and to be finally a blessed soul in heaven" (Hawthorne 62). However, despite such acknowledgements Hester begins to doubt such a purely God-given blessing. Hawthorne demonstrates the weight of Pearl's existence on Hester's conscience and illustrates the intermingling of their spirits:
| The mother's impassioned state had been the medium through which were transmitted to the unborn infant the rays of its moral life; and, however white and clear originally, they had taken the deep stains of crimson and gold, the fiery luster, the black shadow, and the untempered light, of the intervening substance. (Hawthorne 63) |
The colors Hawthorne uses to describe Pearl's conception correspond to the crimson of the letter and the gold of the thread used to fasten it upon Hester's bosom. Both Pearl and the scarlet letter represent the unitary aspect of Hester's joy and sorrow as Dimmesdale speaks on behalf of the mother and child:
| This child of its father's guilt and its mother's shame hath come from the hand of God, to work in many ways upon her heart, who pleads so earnestly, and with such bitterness of spirit, the right to keep her. It was meant for a blessing; for the one blessing of her life! It was meant, doubtless, as the mother herself hath told us, for a retribution too; a torture, to be felt at many an unthought of moment; a pang, a sting, an ever-recurring agony, in the mist of a troubled joy! Hath she not expressed this thought in the garb of the poor child, so forcibly reminding us of that red symbol which sears her bosom? (Hawthorne 79) |
The scarlet letter upon Hester's bosom causes her the same experience. Hawthorne clearly represents the interconnectedness of events both internal and external by compounding their psychological aspect throughout the novel, especially as it relates to Pearl and the scarlet letter. Hawthorne also depicts Pearl as the spawn of an unholy act.
Pearl as a young babe appears to Hester as an impish and almost devilish creature. This image of Pearl allows the reader to view a mortal manifestation of Hester's adulterous sin. While Hawthorne refers to Hester as a living, breathing sermon, Pearl serves as the living, breathing product of sin. In Chapter 6, subtitled Pearl, Hester asks her infant what she is; "Oh I am your little Pearl!" answers the child. And as she says it, "Pearl laughed and began to dance up and down, with the humorsome gesticulation of a little imp, whose next freak might be to fly up the chimney" (Hawthorne, 68). This passage shows Pearl's intellect to be far above that of a normal infantile child. Her intelligence suggests that she may have the devilish taint within her. Hawthorne uses Pearl to depict the consequences of a hidden sin, and uses her to draw out the secret of her origin. Pearl's origins are as much of a secret as her true nature. Hawthorne allows the reader to view her in an ill light as long as Hester and Dimmesdale's sin remains secret. However, once he reveals his secret, Pearl's true nature becomes apparent and her previous impish nature vanishes. We see Pearl not as an impish creature, but a young woman with purpose and a sense of duty.
In many ways Pearl also resembles the forest. From the first time we meet her, Hawthorne presents Pearl as wild and her activities as her witchcraft. The forest represents Pearl's disquietude and it sees her as a kindred spirit due to her wildness: "The truth seems to be, however, that the mother-forest, and these wild things which it nourished, all recognized a kindred wildness in the human child" (Hawthorne 139). Pearl is like the forest itself and also like all the things in the forest. Hawthorne compares her even to the sad brook because like the brook, Pearl's life "had flowed through scenes shadowed as heavily with gloom" (Hawthorne127). Pearl, however does not appear so heavily affected by this as "she danced and sparkled, and prattled airily along her course" (Hawthorne 127).
In most stories about Puritan New England, the forest represents the mysterious place where witches gather at night to sign their names into the devil's black book and fly high above the trees on their broomsticks. Earlier in the novel, Hawthorne describes Pearl's playing as witchcraft: "The unlikeliest materials...were the puppets of Pearl's witchcraft, and, without undergoing any outward change, became spiritually adapted to whatever drama occupied the stage of her inner world" (Hawthorne 66). Although Pearl is not literally a witch, figuratively she represents that part of Puritan culture that will not completely conform to Puritan ways.
Hawthorne constantly conveys Pearl as an evil child who exists to remind Hester of her sin. Pearl, like the scarlet letter, never lets her mother forget that sin. Hawthorne compares and relates her to the forest and her actions to witchcraft, which symbolize the side of human nature that will not be tamed by Puritan Law. He also describes Pearl as being impish and devilish, another aspect of rebellion against conformity. All of these traits together present her as a product of sin and the devil's workings, and she is a constant reminder to Hester and Dimmesdale, preventing them from forgetting their sinful acts.
images from http://eldred.ne.mediaone.net