Pearl's Contribution to the Scarlet Letter

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Pearl's Contribution to the Scarlet Letter

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...