s name,
ironically, comes from the bible: a pearl of great price. names her this because her birth
came at great price to her mother. Hester says she was purchased with all she [Hester] had.
Pearl is the living Scarlet Letter; the representation, in the flesh, of Hester and s sin.
Hester does her no favors by dressing her in beautiful clothing, mostly red and very
noticeable. When Pearl runs through the town, everyone notices her, some people point at her,
and she knows, even at a young age, that she is somehow different. Not even the children will
play with her, as they have been warned that she is unbaptized and therefore somehow
evil.
Pearls temperament drives the novels action. In fact, it is usually
Pearl who acts as a catalyst for the action. One example is in the Elf-Child and the Minister
chapter when Pearl is being quizzed to find out if she should be taken from Hester. When asked
who made her, at first she refuses to answer, then the child finally announced that she had
not been made at all, but had been plucked by her mother off the bush of wild roses, that grew
by the prison-door. This causes the gentlemen to judge Hester very harshly, and it also causes
Dimmesdale to defend Hester. Later in the novel, every time she sees Dimmesdale, Pearl asks why
he has his hand over his heart. The reader, too, would like to know the answer to this
question. In a way, the reader and Pearl are in the same situation. There are things going on
and we need answers. Pearl finds these answers out for us. It is Pearl who asks if the
minister will stand with them in daylight. The reader also wants to know if Dimmesdale will
ever acknowledge his child in public.
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