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Lea Abdoulah

Ms. Yeaton

Pre-AP Period 2

1 November 2017

The Scarlet Letter Analysis

In the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Pearl is a product of sin that

displays the importance of the lesson to never commit adultery. Hawthorne characterizes Pearl to

dramatize the importance of Hester Prynne’s sin by creating a product of it. Pearl is built as a

character through Hawthorne’s insulting tone, connotative diction, and substantial metaphors.

Nathaniel Hawthorne portraying Pearl as a sin, or the product of one, creates an insulting

tone. The terms and descriptions Hawthorne utilizes are an insult to Pearl. This portrayal would

not necessarily be insulting to Hester Prynne, Pearl’s adultery-committing mother, considering

there are far too many reasons Hester would agree with Hawthorne. Hawthorne characterizes

Pearl perfectly: “An imp of evil, emblem and product of sin, she had no right among christened

infants” (Hawthorne 77). Pearl is not only named a product of sin, but Hawthorne names Pearl a

“devil” or “a mischievous child” by characterizing Pearl as “an imp of evil.” An image of a

young child committing mischievous actions comes to mind due to this description; therefore,

the insulting tone is supported even more. Even though Pearl is Hester’s one and only child,

Hester feels a deep and sinister doubt about Pearl: “At last, her shot being all expended, the child

stood still and gazed at Hester, with that little, laughing image of a fiend peeping out - or,

whether it peeped or no, her mother so imagined it - from the unsearchable abyss of her black

eyes” (Hawthorne 80). The product of sin, as Hawthorne characterizes, is so enveloped in an evil

wrongdoing by Pearl’s mother that it is seeable from within Pearl. The long syntax in this
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characterization contributes to the insulting tone considering more details of Pearl are able to be

added. Utilizing keywords and phrases, Hawthorne creates Pearl as a product of sin as well as

suggesting an insulting tone. Nathaniel Hawthorne does not hold back from characterizing Pearl

this way; therefore, Hawthorne’s purpose is successfully achieved. The importance of Hester’s

sin is dramatized by creating a product of it through the use of a negative, connotative tone,

which helped Hawthorne fully express personal opinions on what Hawthorne named a demon

child.

Hester Prynne seems irritable and regretful when it comes to interactions with Pearl.

Pearl’s mother committed an act of adultery and got what Nathaniel Hawthorne creates as a

disturbance and an inconvenience out of it. That inconvenience is Pearl. Nathaniel Hawthorne

makes use of a connotative diction, mostly negative, to characterize Pearl with the help of the

ongoing and increasing irritation Hester presents. The “agony which [Hester] would fain have

hidden” is immediately negative connotative diction considering “agony” is a term related with

regretfulness and pain (Hawthorne 79). This pain that Hester feels is in the view of the existence

of Pearl. Hester “looked fearfully into the child’s expanding nature” and “dread[ed] to protect

some dark arid wild peculiarity” signifying that Hester feared Pearl owing to the fact that Pearl is

a constant reminder of the sin Hester committed (Hawthorne 74). Words like “dreading”,

“fearfully”, “dark”, and “arid” create a powerfully-negative connotative diction considering these

characterize Pearl easily. Through the descriptions of the thoughts and actions of Hester Prynne,

a connotative diction is formed portraying Pearl as a trouble and a displeasure.

The scarlet letter on Hester’s chest is placed there so that people around Hester know that

Hester committed an act of adultery. The letter, which is an A, stays throughout Hester’s life just

like Pearl does. This comparison comes to form the characterization of Pearl. According to
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Hester, “‘See ye not, she is the scarlet letter, only capable of being loved, and so endowed with a

million-fold the power of retribution for my sin?’” (Hawthorne 94) This metaphor establishes

that Pearl and the scarlet letter are one. They both are products of Hester’s sin and both are

markings on Hester that stain Hester’s existence. “‘It was meant, doubtless, as the mother herself

hath told us, for a retribution too; a torture,’” claims Reverend Dimmesdale, “‘to be felt at many

an unthought of moment; a pang, a sting, an ever-recurring agony, ( … )’” (Hawthorne 95). A

relation comes from Dimmesdale’s claim. Both Pearl and the scarlet letter bring torture to

Hester’s life; however, there is nothing more left than to embrace and love Pearl and the scarlet

letter since both are all Hester really has left.

Pearl is a product of sin, an annoyance to Hester, and is one with the scarlet letter which

marks Hester for life. Pearl is characterized by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s use of an insulting tone,

connotative diction, and solid metaphors. This characterization of Pearl by Hawthorne

dramatized Hester’s sin of adultery and made Hester’s sin an important focus of the entire novel

by creating a message and understanding that one’s actions certainly do have consequences.