Name: Paulina Smolinski
WordPress user name: paulinasmolinski
Blog Title: Scarlet Reader
This post focuses on Chapters 5-8
When I first read that Hester decided to name her child Pearl, I found it rather ironic. Ideally, a pearl is pure with the image of innocence surrounding it. It calls forth memories of effortless grace and simple beauty. This is quite contrary to the view that the Puritan community would have to the product of an affair. The entire community is expecting the child to be a demon or at least have some terrible faults due to the sin that created her. It is not until Hawthorne address the reasoning behind the little girl’s name that I understand Hawthorne’s choice. “[Hester] named the infant ‘Pearl’ as being of great price- purchased with all she had,- her mother’s only treasure!” (Hawthorne 81). In the context of the novel, the name is meant to represent the great cost that Hester had to pay in order to have her child. Hester was forced to live in constant obloquy with no relief from the reminder of her sin. She gave up her pride and dignity in the community by having Pearl; therefore, Pearl was bought with the cost of everything that Hester had. Furthermore, the reference to the “pearl of great price” comes from the bible verse found in the gospel of Matthew 13:45-46 . It come from the following parable: “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.” Hawthorne references the bible’s idea of a “pearl of great price” to further address the fact that Hester had to give all that she had in order to have baby Pearl.
Looking further into the idea of what else the pearl could symbolize, I found that the rarest pearls occur rather spontaneously in the wild ocean. The wildness and spontaneity of the ocean represents the rambunctious personality that Pearl shows signs of early on in her life. Pearl is said to have a “wild, desperate, defiant mood, the flightiness of her temper and even some of the cloud shapes of gloom and despondency that had broadened in [Hester’s] heart” (Hawthorne 83). This personality also shows that she is the embodiment of the spontaneous, defiant relationship that created her.
Overall, the creation of a pearl occurs in nature “quite by accident” when a parasite enters an oyster. The oyster begins to envelop the parasite with calcium carbonate. This parasite enveloped with the covering eventually becomes a beautiful pearl (“A Brief History of Pearls: How Pearls Form in the Oyster”). This is very symbolic of the way that Pearl was created. She was also not planned ahead of time just like a pearl occurs as an accident of nature. Furthermore, the parasite that enters the oyster is symbolic of the sin of adultery that entered the relationship between Hester and Dimmesdale. The parasite is still underneath the beauty of the pearl just as the Puritan community believes that Pearl is born with sin inside of her. Pearl’s name gives the reader a deeper look into her character.
Work Cited
“A Brief History of Pearls: How Pearls Form in the Oyster.” A Brief History of Pearls: How Pearls Form in the Oyster. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Bantam Dell, 1850. Print.
The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments. Trenton: I. Collins, 1791. Print.
The Scarlet Reader 