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Jordan Cox

Mr. Miles

Pre-AP English, Period 1

13 November 2017

Scarlet Letter Character Development Essay

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s historical fiction novel, ​The Scarlet Letter​, depicts the personality

of a little girl named Pearl who is born as a result of her mother’s sin. Hawthorne’s exceptional

use of callous word choice, a fond yet ominous tone, and symbolism through the scarlet letter

and rose bush create comprehensive characterization of this individual in the novel.

The use of callous word choice and a fond but ominous tone contribute substantially to

the characterization of Pearl. Hawthorne repeatedly describes her as “so intelligent, yet

inexplicable, so perverse, sometimes so malicious, but generally accompanied by a wild flow of

spirits” and also as “an imp of evil, [an] emblem and product of sin” (Hawthorne 76-77). The

author has a fond tone of Pearl when he expresses her as “intelligent” and “inexplicable” but

contradicts it using callous word choice when she is referred to as “an imp of evil.” This callous

and insensitive diction conveys a negative or sinister image of Pearl, which in turn creates the

ominous tone that surrounds this character much the time. Through all this Pearl develops into

a mischievous devil child in the eyes of the public, although, little Pearl does have a bright side

to her. She is unable to comprehend sorrow, but every so often she would attempt to pacify her

mother’s cries and “sob out her love for her mother, in broken words, and seemed intent on

proving that she had a heart, by breaking it” (Hawthorne 77). Expressed with more of this fond

tone, Pearl develops a caring nature and temporal qualities which convey how she is not entirely

the “devil-child” that Hawthorne presents her to be.

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Hawthorne utilizes symbolism to aid in the characterization of Pearl and two instances of

this that contribute to Pearl’s contradicting character are the scarlet letter on Hester’s bosom and

the rose bush just outside of the town jail. Pearl is an inquisitive child and is often curious of the

letter on her mother’s chest, but her gaze towards the letter “would come at [an] unawareness”

to her mother, “like the stroke of a sudden death” (Hawthorne 80). The letter emphasizes Pearl’s

already sinister image by representing her as pain and punishment for Hester, just as the scarlet

letter does. Though, contrary to the letter, the rose bush further underlines and develops Pearl’s

softer nature. The rose bush is the center of a fantasy for her where she is not actually “born” at

all, “but had been plucked by her mother off the bush of wild roses” (Hawthorne 93). Here, the

rose bush represents Pearl’s innocence and purity: her softer and caring nature. In this fantasy

she was not born as a result of sin, but had been born of hope, like the rose bush.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s ​The Scarlet Letter ​outlines the evil but caring dual nature of Pearl

through complex characterization via diction, tone, and symbolism. Although Pearl harbors a

devilish semblance, Hawthorne uses these devices to expose her innocence and purity. This

characterization goes to explain that one’s birth does not exactly determine their fate.
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Works Cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. ​The Scarlet Letter​. Barns & Noble, 2005.