Sometimes beauty is found in places as unexpected as a rosebush growing
outside of a prison in a puritan colonial village. Pearl Prynne is an
unearthly beautiful child with a wild spirit born under unimaginably sinful
conditions, all of which are somehow related to the ideas, actions, and
views of others on Hester's punishment. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet
Letter, Pearl serves as Hester's living, breathing Scarlet letter.
Pearl evokes the same emotion and reactions from the townspeople, as does
the scarlet letter. The people look at the slight sense of pride Hester has
in her letter in the same way they look at the way Hester lets Pearl do
whatever she wants. They feel Hester isn't fit to raise the child. The
extremity of gossip from the females of the village in the beginning of the
book is only matched by the amount that Pearl's wild attitude stirs up later
on. Hester's "A" is the example for all of what sin is. The "A" makes Hester
much avoided and the parents tell their children to watch out for her.
Theses same parents say the same things to their kids about avoiding Pearl,
who is infamous for her uncontrollable behavior with her peers and other
adults. Just as infamous as Hester's "A" for the wild sinful actions it
Like Hester's scarlet letter, Pearl shows extreme beauty in a form that is
not traditional, positive, tame, or fully accepted. When Hester crafts the
"A" that she has to wear on her chest, She uses a deep, passionate shade of
red and embroiders it very intricately with bright gold thread. The "A" was
meant to mark Hester in a negative manor; its purpose is to let everyone
know that Hester is a sinner. Hester takes something extremely negative and
makes it appear as passionately beautiful. Hawthorne portrays Pearl in a
very detailed specific manor, meant...