Background
Pearl is an interesting character. While it is arguable over whether she functions more as a character or as a symbol, her elements as a character were one of the most enjoyable parts of The Scarlet Letter for me. Pearl is the child born from Hester's affair with Dimmsdale (I told you to leave if you haven't read the book). The start of the novel places her at a few month old, and the majority of it takes place when she is a child of 7 or so. Pearl has an interesting part in Hester's life. While she is literally a child born out of sin, she is the one thing that is of any positive substance in Hester's life. During Hester's exile Pearl is her only companion, and Hester seems to deeply care about her. She is even referred to as "her mother's only treasure". "Hester sought not to acquire anything beyond a subsistence, of the plainest and most ascetic description, for herself, and a simple abundance for her child. her own dress was of the coarsest materials and the most sombre hue; with only that one ornament-the scarlet letter- which it was her doom to wear. The child's attire, on the other hand, was distinguished by a fanciful, or, we might rather say, a fantastic ingenuity, which served, indeed, to heighten the airy charm that early began to develop itself around the little girl"
This quote show us that while making only humble clothes for herself, Hester makes ornate and beautiful clothing for Pearl. Her guilt over Pearl's unholy entrance into the world and her love for Pearl make Hester produce these ornate clothes for her daughter.
Physical Description
Pearl is described as a beautiful child. Her beauty is only heightened by the garments her mother dresses her in. Pearl exhibits physical traits often given to an actual pearl. She is described as being "white and clear" at one point and her innocence is often highlighted in the novel. Pearl is also described as resembling a bird and having bird-like features."And then what happiness would it have been, could Hester Prynne have heard her clear, birdlike voice mingling with the uproar of other childish voices and having distinguished and unravelled her own darling's tones, amid all the entangled outcry of a group of sportive children!"
"Little Pearl's unwonted mood of sentiment lasted no longer; she laughed, and went capering down the hall, so airily, that old Mr. Wilson raised a question whether even her tiptoes touched the floor."
While Pearl does seem to have many birdlike traits, there is something almost inhuman in her features. Pearl is often referred to as "imp-like" or "elf-like". One of the chapters is even named "The Elf-Child and the Minister", and deals with an encounter Pearl has with the minister Arthur Dimmsdale and a few others of the Boston elite. Personality
Like I said above, Pearl is a weird and almost inhuman character. People often disagree with what part she plays in the novel; either character or symbol. While her physical characteristics don't make seem peculiar to the reader, her personality and her actions are unsettling.
Pearl is a prescient child. She knows things that a child should not know. The first example of her uncanny knowledge is when she is a baby and her mother is just released from prison and being questioned by Arthur Dimmsdale about the identity of Hester's co-adulterer (who is secretly Dimmsdale). "Even the poor baby at Hester's bosom was affected by the same influence, for it directed its hitherto vacant gaze towards Mr Dimmsdale, and held up its little arms, with a half pleased, half plaintive murmur."
Here, even as baby Pearl seems to recognize her father to a certain degree. She is almost like the possessed children from horror movies.
"Gazing at Pearl, Hester Prynne often dropped her work upon her knees, and cried out with an agony which she would fain have hidden, but which made utterance for itself, betwixt speech and a groan, 'O Father in Heaven-if Thou art shill my Father-what is this being which I have brought into the world!' And Pearl, overhearing the ejaculation, or aware through some more subtle channel of those throbs of anguish, would turn her vivid and beautiful little face upon her mother, smile with sprite-like intelligence, and resume her play."
I'm sorry, but this is a scary scene. Pearl looks almost evil, and she is filling her unsettling role the reader has already connected to her. Pearl is also has this affinity for the scarlet letter that her mother wears. It's because they both are representations of Hester's sin and are basically the same thing. The connection between the scarlet "A" is highlighted by Pearl's attraction to it. She often questions her mother what the letter means, and why she wears it. She bugs her mother so much, that eventually Hester tells Pearl "Hold thy tongue, naughty child!....Do not tease me; else I shall shut thee into a dark closet!". At one point when Hester takes off the letter, Pearl refuses to return to her mother and points to where the letter and throws a fit until Hester returns the letter to her chest. Pearl then kisses the letter out of spite. Pearl has not experienced any sort of loss or any hardship. Even though Hester experiences hardship, Pearl's life is sheltered and she always is provided for and cared for by Hester. In a sense, she has yet to lose her innocence, and Hawthorne implies that one must lose their innocence before they can become fully human. Pearl's transformation from a weird and quasi-human to a full human after she experiences the death of her father, Arthur Dimmsdale.
"Pearl kissed his (Dimmsdale) lips. A spell was broken. The great scene of grief, in which the wild infant bore a part, had developed all her sympathies; and as her tears fell upon her father's cheek, they were the pledge that she would grow up amid human joy and sorrow, nor forever do battle with the world, but be a woman in it. Towards her mother, too, Pearl's errand as a messenger of anguish was all fulfilled."
Now, Pearl is fully human because she has experienced the good and the bad in the world and she operate more as a character rather than as a character-symbol combo. The novel ends shortly after this point and it is mentioned that Pearl grew up and married a man in Europe. Creepiest Pearl Quote (said to a sailor who called her a "witch-baby"): " 'Mistress Hibbins says my father is the Prince of the Air!' cried Pearl, with a naughty smile. 'If thou callest me that ill name, I shall tell him of thee, and he will chase they ship with a tempest!'"
