The Scarlet Letter: The Puritans Are Wrong In Thinking That Pearl Is Wicked

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Hester's cottage, Pearl "[smites]
down [and] uproot[s] most unmercifully [the] ugliest weeds"(87) which she
pretends are the Puritan children. Hester believes that Pearl is so
emotional and temperamental because the passion which Hester and
Dimmesdale experienced during their sinful act somehow transferred into
Pearl's soul. However, Pearl's antipathy for the Puritans is justified; the
children often torment her for no good reason. When Hester and Pearl go
into town, the Puritan children stop playing and either surround Pearl and
stare at her or prepare to hurl mud at the unfortunate pair. Both actions
by the Puritans result in a fit of outrage by Pearl. One reason that the
Puritans treat Pearl badly is because of her mother's sin. The Puritans
believe that since Pearl is the product of adultery, she is automatically
evil and depraved. The Puritan hatred for Pearl is also due to the fact
that she, like Hester's scarlet letter, is beautiful, and they are in a way
jealous of both. ...

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rather!- or Coral!-or Red Rose'"(101). Even though
Mr. Wilson disapproves of Pearl's attire, he still acknowledges her beauty
by comparing her to beautiful things in nature. At the same, time, he shows
his disapproval because he, like most Puritans, distrusts nature. Later on,
Mr. Wilson asks Pearl if she knows who made her. She replies by saying that
"she had not been made at all but had been plucked by her mother off the
bush of wild roses that [grows] by the prison-door"(103). Pearl's answer
tells the reader that she understands both her physical beauty and her
internal wildness because she compares herself to a wild rose. The answer's
creativity and unexpectedness also ...

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