Chapter 5 deals with one of the primary questions of the book: why does Hester choose to stay in

Boston when she is free to leave? The narrator offers several explanations. Hester’s explanation
to herself is that New England was the scene of her crime; therefore, it should also be the scene
of her punishment. The narrator adds that Hester’s life has been too deeply marked by the things
that have happened to her here for her to leave. Additionally, he adds, Hester feels bound to
Pearl’s father, who presumably continues to live in Boston. But there seems to be more to
Hester’s refusal to leave. Were she to escape to Europe or into the wilderness, Hester would be
acknowledging society’s power over the course of her life. By staying and facing cruel taunts
and alienation, Hester insists, paradoxically, upon her right to self-determination. Hester does not
need to flee or to live a life of lies in order to resist the judgment against her.

Each time she interacts with Pearl, Hester is forced to reconsider the life she has chosen for
herself. Pearl is both the sign of Hester’s shame and her greatest treasure—she is a punishment
and a consolation. Pearl reminds Hester of her transgression, of the act that has left Hester in her
current state of alienation. And Pearl’s ostracism by the community recalls Hester’s own feelings
of exile. Yet, Pearl’s existence also suggests that out of sin comes treasure. This idea is
reinforced by Hester’s needlework: out of necessity born of shame, luxury and beauty are
crafted.

It is fitting that Pearl is fascinated by the scarlet letter, as the child and the emblem are read
similarly by society. Like Pearl, the letter inspires a mixture of contempt and strange
enchantment. Both also invite contemplation: people—even the narrator, some two hundred
years later—feel compelled to tell the story behind the two relics.

The children of the townspeople are as cruel as their parents in their treatment of Hester and
Pearl. In their “play,” the underlying attitudes of the community are revealed. The Puritans-in-
training make believe they are scalping Native Americans, they mimic the gestures of going to
church, and they pretend to engage in witchcraft. They mirror the true preoccupations of their
parents, just as Pearl reflects the complex state of her exiled mother. Indeed, Hester frequently
uses Pearl as a mirror, watching her own reflection in the child’s eyes.

It is in these chapters that the book’s romance atmosphere emerges. (The term “romance” here
refers to an emphasis on the supernatural, the unrealistic, or the magical in order to explore
alternatives to the “reality” of human existence.) Hester’s cottage on the edge of the forest
functions as a space where the mores of the town do not wield as much authority. As we will see
later, the forest itself represents even greater freedom.

Pearl seems to be a kind of changeling—a surreal, elfin creature who challenges reality and
thrives on fantasy and strangeness. This world of near-magic is, of course, utterly un-Puritan. At
times it seems almost un-human. Yet the genius of Hawthorne’s technique here is that he uses
the “un-human” elements of Hester and Pearl’s life together to emphasize their very humanness.
The text suggests that being fully human means not denying one’s human nature. By indulging in
dream, imagination, beauty, and passion, one accesses a world that is more magically
transcendent.