Essay on the Mysterious Pearl in Nathaniel Hawthornes The Scarlet Lett

The Mysterious Pearl in The Scarlet Letter A few moments before Reverend Dimmsdale professes his sin to the crowd of onlookers, Hester's hopes of escape are dashed by the knowledge that Roger Chillingworth also booked a passage on the departing ship†¹a ship that she prayed would give her and her beloved freedom from the curse of the Scarlet Letter. Little Pearl, however, relays the message to her mother that her trip has been spoilt by the addition of the evil Chillingworth. A well-meaning sailor tells Pearl, "So let thy mother take no thought, save for herself and thee. Wilt thou tell her this, thou witch-baby?" (224), implying that an additional passenger will be aboard the ship come departure. Hester, paling after hearing the news, watches her utopian plans fall to ruins as the minister breathes his last breath and she is once again left alone with Pearl, without escape from her bondage. The term "witch-baby," though never r... ...tive connotation†¹rather, she seems steeped in another reality that is inaccessible by the puritans of Boston. The little girl tends to exist even outside the sphere of her outcast mother; Hawthorne, to prove the point of Pearl's mysterious identity, associates her with the sprites, elves and imps of a world that no human knows intimately. His constant use of "witchery" language gives Pearl a certain character sense that implies her fate as a unknown resident of another land.