In Hawthorne's epic novel, The Scarlet Letter
he discusses Pearl, a
main character,
and her contribution in making the novel a romantic one.
Hawthorne uses
three types of romantic topics relating to Pearl. Stereotypical
characters,
supernaturalness of characters, and the imaginary aspect of
characters are
all qualities of romantic language Hawthorne uses to better
develop Pearl's
character. Over the course of the novel
Hawthorne uses all of
the aspects of
romantic language to unfold the life of Pearl and how she acts
having these
qualities.
Pearl's quality of being a stereotypical
character makes her blend into
some situations
and not into others. Pearl was portrayed
as a stereotypical
"victim of
Hester's sin", adultery, because as she walks through town with her
mother the other
kids shout and curse at her. Pearl takes
it in stride and
defends her
mother and fends off the evil children.
The adults of Boston,
mostly Puritans,
talk behind Hester's back about the child being one of a
sinner. Another common stereotype filled by Pearl is
whenever an adult is
occupied with
something then the child finds something to do.
When Hester
went to the woods
to meet with Dimmesdale, Pearl went off to play in the
brook while the
two adults talked and then she stopped when her mother
called. A second example is when Pearl accompanied
her mother to the
seashore where
they met Chillingworth, Pearl wandered off by herself and
occupied her time
by playing with seaweed and the various animal life that
happened to be
around. Children can also notice small
differences in their
surroundings that
are normally familiar to them. When
Hester and
Dimmesdale where
in the woods and decided to flee Boston and travel to
Europe, Hester
removed her scarlet letter happily and threw it into the brook.
When she called
to Pearl to tell her the news of them leaving Boston, Pearl
went into fits of
rage and temper tantrums and would not come to her mother.
This was because
she was so used to seeing the scarlet letter on her mother's
bosom. Pearl's quality of being stereotypical,
compared to all children and
characters in
general, is highly unlikely and only adds to the amount of
romanticism in
the novel.
The supernatural aspect of Pearl makes her out
to be what many of us
would call
monsters or beings from fairy-tales.
Pearl is considered by the
denizens of
Boston to be a "devil-child" and not belonging in such a society.
She is also
referred to as an "imp" as well as being "elf-like" and
that she
would be void of
"human joy and sorrow".
Although she may have been
supernatural to
the readers of the novel and perchance to the Puritans of
Boston, this all
is washed away in the final chapters as she begins to show
warmth and
caring. This was the completely different than the image
created
at the beginning
of the novel. Hawthorne's awareness to
this supernatural
appearance makes
this one of the most interesting aspects of romantic
language in
novels.
Children are known for the things they do, but
it is taken for granted
that all children
are like this, but not Pearl because of the imaginary
characteristics
that Hawthorne gives her. First of all,
at a very young age,
Pearl became
interested in the true meaning of her mother's scarlet letter.
Small children do
not usually become interested in complicated topics such as
adultery, and
Pearl became more persistent when her mother tried to ignore
her repeated
attempts to find the meaning. Pearl also
became interested in
finding her real
father and took an interest in Dimmesdale. She was assuming
that he was her
father, and she kept questioning him on whether or not he
would hold hands
with her and then join them on the scaffolding each
afternoon. Most children do not show affection so openly
to other people, like
Pearl did. Finally at the end of the novel, when
Dimmesdale was dying, Pearl
bent over and
placed a kiss upon his forehead, out of the kindness of her heart.
Children may kiss
people out in public, but not anyone who had previously
locked their
loving feelings inside and who have been referred to as monsters.
These examples of
how Pearl was portrayed as being imaginary, give
character to
Pearl and make her a well rounded person in the novel as well as
to give meaning
to why Hawthorne put her in the novel.
Pearl is the character who makes this novel a
romance and Hawthorne ,
who tries and
succeeds in using Pearl as a link between Dimmesdale and
Hester, because
of her romantic qualities. He wanted her
to be different from
all the other
children, but still have the qualities of a normal child. I think
Hawthorne wanted
her to be a bridge of emotions for Hester, for when Hester
thought that life
could no longer go on, Pearl would step in and cheer her up.
Hawthorne's well
developed characters, especially Pearl, made the novel one
that was
interesting to read as well as discuss.
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