All Of The Devils are Here

“Hell is empty and all of the devils are here.”

--William Shakespeare

My Rhetorical Literary Analysis Paper over Pearl in The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter (Hawthorne, 1850)

The Scarlet Letter was published in 1850 and written by the one and only (as far as my knowledge goes) Nathaniel Hawthorne. This piece of literature has been analyzed, picked apart, surgically put back together and tore apart again more times than I can even begin to count. It deals with subjects of sin, knowledge, the human conditions, the nature of evil, individuals/identity vs. society. The novel has symbols and foreshadowing in even the oddest of places--children running around to catch sunlight and an “A” appearing in the sky under the wrath of an unknown god. Surrounded by all of this sin, this ostracization and alienation, and perhaps the only one that truly sees what is going on is seven year old Pearl. The child born from adultery, from a priest and a married woman, in a world that is supposed to be free of sin but is still expected nonetheless. And in this world of puritain beliefs, lies and hypocrisy and supposed shame is Pearl--Pearl, the physical manifestation/embodiment of the letter as she knows the truth hidden in each person she meets. She sees people for who they really are despite the facade they try and put on. With Pearl being so blunt and open on her thoughts of the people in her community the townsfolk often see her as the spawn of the devil for saying things so freely.

To give a little insight as to why Pearl is the embodiment of the Scarlet Letter, here is a little backstory to The Scarlet Letter.

The novel tells the tale twice removed, first through the eyes of a Mr. Jonathan Pue a hundred years after the event of Hester’s life and then another one-hundred years after Pue by our unnamed narrator. 200 hundred have passed before our narrator begins to write his own version of Hester’s life. The story opens with our main character being led from a prison and herded like a cow to the scaffold where she must stand holding her child and wear a bright red letter A embroidered on her chest. The Governor Mr. Bellingham, gives Hester the chance to “confess” and bring her “accomplice” into light so he may suffer with her, so she may not bear all of the wait. Hester refuses to give the name of her childs’ father and is punished with being ostracized by her community. Being forced to live on the outskirts of town, wear the A on her chest for the rest of her life. To be an outsider looking in.

Years pass and Hester is still as strong, kind-hearted and caring as ever, her daughter Pearl is growing to be someone the towns people deem as odd, saying she is the devil reincarnated. Hester no longer sees the Rev. Dimmesdale, romantically nor intimately. It is now as if the two are passing strangers, only talking when needed and intervening on behalf of their daughter Pearl. It is not until years later when Pear is around the age of six or seven, that the truth comes into the light of her father being Rev. Dimmesdale when he collapses on the stage in front of all of the townsfolk and even Natives that have come to visit. Dimmesdale pulls his shirt back to reveal the letter A burned into his chest, admitting to the world that he is Pearl’s father and that he was the one that committed the sin with Hester.

Hawthorne used one of the three claims when he wrote The Scarlet Letter, the Pathos appeal. This was done to appeal to pity in the reader and cause them to “sympathize” with Hester during her years as an “outcast”. I use these two terms “sympathize” and “outcast” very loosely as they are often attached with negative meaning or connotations. Hawthorne, wanted the audience to see Hester as a strong, independent woman who could do all and more of what society demanded of her. All while they ostracized her, judged her, belittled her and her daughter, dealt with blackmail from her husband and much more she was still able to be just as kind, caring, and protective of Pearl as she has always been--even before Pearl was born and the affair took place.

Hawthorne wanted the audience to realize that while the purtian society attempted to make Hester break by asserting their beliefs and suffocating her with them. She, however, did not break. This was known as Logos. Logos happen when the author asserts their claim by incorporating logistical reasoning to influence the audience. The puritans hoped that Hester would see their point of view if they punished her.

Pearl herself does not have what some would call a “filter”, she says whatever she thinks and does so bluntly. Just before the reader reaches the middle of the book, there is a scene that happens in chapter six of Pearl where she asks her mother, Hester, who her father is.

“Child, what art thou?’cried the mother. [...]

Oh, I am your little Pearl!’ answered the child. [...]

‘Art thou my child, in very truth?” asked Hester. [...]

‘Yes; I am little Pearl!’ responded the child [...]

‘Thou art not my child” Thou art no Pearl of mine!’ said the mother [...]

‘Tell me, then, what thou art, and who sent thee hither?’ ‘Tell me, mother!’ said the child, seriously

‘Do thou tell me!’

“Thy Heavenly Father sent thee!’ answered Hester Prynne

“He did not send me!’ ‘I have no Heavenly Father!’

‘Hush, Pearl, hush. Thou must not talk so!’answering the mother [...]

‘He sent us all into the world. He sent even me, thy mother. Then, much more thee! Or, if not, thou strange and elfish child, whence didst thou come?’

‘Tell me! Tell me! [...] ‘It is thou that must tell me!’”

—Hawthorne

She sees things for what they are and not for what people try to make them out to be. Multiple examples of the young child stating other people’s truths can in not only what she says but also in who she is as a human being.

“We have as yet hardly spoken of the infant: the little creature, whose innocent life had sprung, by inscrutable decree of Providence, a lovely and immortal flower, out of the rank luxuriance of a guilty passion (Hawthorne).”

Pearl is often asking her mother questions that Hester does not know how to answer. Not due to any fact of Hester not being intelligent enough but more along the lines of being caught off guard by having a child ask such a heavy question or point out such a huge fact of the human condition.

“‘Mother,’ said little Pearl, ‘the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom. Now, see! There it is, playing a good ways off. Stand you here, and let me run and catch it. I am but a child. It will not flee from me--for I wear nothing on my bosom yet!’

‘Nor ever will, my child, I hope,’ said Hester.

‘And why not, mother?’ asked Pearl, stopping short, just at the beginning of her race. ‘Will it not come when I am a woman grown?’”

--Hawthorne

Call the quote whatever you may “Woman Grown” or “The Sunshine Does Not Love You”, is one of the most important quotes in the novel when it comes to explaining how young Pearl sees the world. Pearl understands that everyone sins, and to not sin would be the ultimate sin of all. Sinning is what makes us human and separates us from god herself. Everyone sins because everyone is human, and to act as not is to act as god and that is one of the biggest sins there is. To overthrow or see yourself as an equal or better to god, is death sentences. It is asking her to damn you to the worst possible fate you can imagine, and then making a thousands times worse.

“‘Doth he love us?’ said Pearl, looking up with acute intelligence into her mother’s face. ‘Will he go back with us, hand in hand, we three together, into the town?’ [….] ‘And will he always keep his hand over his heart?’ inquired Pearl (Hawthorne).”

An article I found in the Atlantic Press by Yueming Wang, Ph.D titled “Ambiguous Hawthorne, Symbolic Pearl —An Analysis on Pearl’s Symbolism in The Scarlet Letter'' published online in September 2017. Dr. Wang goes on to talk about the abundant symbolism that is The Scarlet Letter, but most importantly the many symbols that surround young Pearl herself. How much this illegal child stands for in a Purtian land in which she is said to be the spawn of a devil. Dr. Wang spoke of Pearl as the following: “Pearl is to be understood as a symbol for Hester’s sin, the living embodiment of the scarlet letter.” Wang states that Hawthorne makes sure that “No matter what light Hawthorne throws her, from his magical prism, she retains her perfect and vivid human individuality (Wang).”

Hester Prynne was the main character of this novel. She is the one that the narrator follows even after Pearl leaves Boston years after the events of the scarlet letter. Yet, if there was no Pearl, then there would be no letter, and in turn no book. Pearl is the reason for everything that Hester does and how she now sees the world. That human desire was never a bad thing and can have gorgeous results, some in the form of a young playful sassy girl that cannot hold her tongue. 

Work(s) Cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. Millennium Publishing, 2015.

Wang, Yueming. “Ambiguous Hawthorne, Symbolic Pearl-- An Analysis on Pearl’s Symbolism in The Scarlet Letter.” Atlantic Press, 2017. www.atlantis-press.com/proceedings/icsshe-17/25884361

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