Pearl

Pearl is kind of like Jack-Jack at the end of The Incredibles. Remember how, upon being kidnapped, Jack-Jack transforms into some crazy things, like a mini devil with sharp teeth and horns? While Pearl never undergoes that significant of a physical transformation, she is a very moody girl. A mood ring would get a workout if it ever had to predict her emotions. Hester learns very early on that her daughter has a mind of her own:

After testing both smiles and frowns, and proving that neither mode of treatment possessed any calculable influence, Hester was ultimately compelled to stand aside, and permit the child to be swayed by her own impulses. Physical compulsion or restraint was effectual, of course, while it lasted. As to any other kind of discipline, whether addressed to her mind or heart, little Pearl might or might no be within her reach, in accordance with the caprice that ruled the moment. (6.4)

“Caprice,” is the key word here – it means the tendency to be unpredictable. You never know what Pearl is going to say or do, and she always does exactly what she wants. But can we blame Pearl for being such a live wire? She was born in a prison. Her mother is the most scorned person in all of Massachusetts Bay Colony, and the reason why she is the most scorned person is that she had a child (Pearl) out of wedlock. Pearl has no friends aside from her mother. She is alone and has been alone since day one. This isolation gives her a unique perspective on her society’s cultural and social customs.

Pearl is a smart cookie. But not book smart – more like creepy, can-read-your-mind, Matilda smart. Her perceptiveness can verge on clairvoyance (or, in other words, psychic-ness) at times, but often we readers are grateful to her for voicing our very thoughts or for getting down to the heart of the matter. Although the gossips of the town repeatedly suggest that Pearl, as an illegitimate child, is evil at heart or the daughter of demons, she’s really just seems to be a high-spirited girl, extra sensitive to what is going on in the hearts, minds, and spirits of others. She is often referred to as a fairy, an elf, “an airy sprite,” “a spirit,” or (sometimes) “an imp of evil.”

Pearl has a deep connection to the scarlet letter. She does not understand why Hester wears the letter A but she is very used to it – in fact, she has never known her mother without it. It gives her comfort. She sometimes teases her mother about the letter or about how society views her, but she loves and supports her mom.

She’s really good at goading and prodding the adults around her. With her incredible intuition, she can pick up on dishonesty and on people’s fears and lies. She’s kind of like a walking lie detector. Sometimes, she’s not so friendly and takes pleasure in rubbing things in. When Hester tries to remove the scarlet letter after she and Dimmesdale decide to run away together, Pearl refuses to have anything to do with her until her mom puts the letter back on again.

Pearl’s knowledge and understanding of her mother seems completely tied to the scarlet letter – she’s watched her mother wear the letter and suffer on account of it every single day – it’s almost like a third member of the family. The scarlet letter claimed Pearl as its own when her own father (Arthur Dimmesdale would not). Pearl constantly asks her mother what it means and why she has to wear it, and while she may know the answers to these questions, it seems almost like Pearl has an affection and attachment to her mother’s punishment. A psychologist would have a field day with Pearl – she’s got a lot going on in that brain of hers.

As Hester and Dimmesdale plan their escape, our narrator powerfully describes Pearl as “the living hieroglyphic” that connects the two of them and that reveals “the secret they so darkly sought to hide” (19.3). She’s like a symbol or an equation that, if someone were to solve her, would reveal the whole truth of Hester and Dimmesdale’s love affair. In many ways, Pearl is exactly like the scarlet letter. Both represent a sin.

Pearl insists that people be truthful, especially Dimmesdale. Other than Roger Chillingworth, she is the only character in the novel who instinctively recognizes and punishes Dimmesdale’s hypocrisy by refusing to kiss him and by washing off the kiss he gives her. She is also the person who offers him mercy and forgiveness when he has finally confessed his sin.

While we never see Pearl again following this confession, we know that she becomes a very wealthy heiress who settles in Europe. More importantly, however, we learn that she takes good care of her mother. For when Hester returns alone to the Puritan society that rejected her for so long, she continually receives lavish gifts and expressions of love from her daughter. Despite her moody, high-strung, and unpredictable behavior, one thing is for certain: Pearl loves her mom.