Scarlet Letter 4

1) "The child finally announced that she had been plucked by her mother off the bush of wild that grew by the prison-door" (Hawthorne 102).

Pearl may not be the wild demon child she was at first depicted as. In this reading she seems more like her mother's guardian than the Spawn of Satan. When Pearl goes with her mother into town and she hears that the children are to throw mud at them, she runs over there and scares them away. effectively sticking up for her mother. As Hester explains to Governor Billingham, Pearl is her penitence. She is her greatest joy and all of her pain rolled into one; she is the embodiment of the Scarlet Letter. The Scarlet Letter's purpose was to reprimand Hester and make her learn her lesson. Pearl serves the same function, and she is Hester's outlet for teaching those lessons. Pearl is often likened to the roses that she sees everywhere. She always seems to be wearing scarlet, and she, like the rose, is strangely beautiful. Pearl even desires a rose when she first sees one. If Pearl is a rose, then Hawthorne has already described her role in the text when he spoke of a rose in the first chapter: "It[a rose] may serve, let us hope, to symbolize some sweet moral blossom, that may be found along the track, or relieve the darkening close of a tale of human frailty and sorrow" (46). Pearl, with her wild and unruly manner, brings out the best in Hester by having to raise her. This is how she serves as a moral compass for Hester. When Hester is confronted by Mistress Hibbins to partake in witchcraft, Pearl is the reason Hester refuses: "'I must tarry at home and keep watch over my little Pearl. Had they taken her from me, I would willingly have gone with thee into the forest, and signed my name in the Black Man's book too, and that with mine own blood!'...Even thus early had the child saved her from Satan's snare" (107).

2) "'Would it be beyond a philosopher's research, think ye, gentlemen, to analyze that child's nature, and, from its make and mould, to give a shrewd guess at the father?'" (106).

We see that Chillingworth is on the verge of discovering the father. He silently takes in everything the men of power in Boston do. By now, he has narrowed it down to a person of great power, hence why he associates with them. Now that Pearl is introduced into their presence, he is able to observe how the react around them to see if any of them exhibit some difference in character. Reverend Dimmesdale is already singled out by the way he defends Hester so vehemently. Yet, no one but Chillingworth is able to see any truth behind it: "'You speak, my friend, with a strange earnestness,' said old roger Chillingworth, smiling at him[Dimmesdale]" (105). Even there, it can be implied that Chillingworth is contemplating whether or not Dimmesdale is the father. He fits the bill, and always seems to have his hand clenched over his heart in anxiety whenever Hester is near. If this weren't enough, Pearl herself singles Dimmesdale out: "Pearl...taking his[Dimmesdale's] hand in the grasp of both her own, laid her cheek against it...she[Hester] knew that there was love in the child's heart, although it mostly revealed itself in passion, and hardly twice in her lifetime had been softened by such gentleness as now" (105-106). Pearl wouldn't go near Reverend Wilson when he prompted her to, but she willingly goes up to Dimmesdale when he didn't even ask her to. After Dimmesdale kisses her on the forehead, Pearl giddily runs off down the hall. These are sure enough signs for Chillingworth to think Dimmesdale the father.