Symbolism Of Pearl In Scarlet Letter
In A Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Pearl just as much a symbol as she is a character. She represents the price of sin and the possibility for redemption. Hester names her daughter Pearl, “as being a great price- purchased with all she had- her mother’s only treasure!” (Hawthorne 6). Hester loves pearl unconditionally because pearl had to suffer so much to get her, not just in childbirth, but also because she is an outcast. Pearl is not like all the other kids and she seems to always get ignored by them. When they do come up to her, she throws stones at them while screaming like, “a witch’s anathemas in some unknown tongue” (Hawthorne 6).Her personality is described as intelligent, imaginative, inquisitive, determined, and even obstinate