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Who is Pearl in The Scarlet Letter?
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Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne's ancestors in Salem, Massachusetts, were Puritans named Hathorne. He added a w to his name when he began writing.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter, Pearl is the daughter of the protagonist, Hester Prynne.1
She is the product of an unsanctified relationship between Hester and the minister Arthur Dimmesdale. Described as a wild and fey child, Pearl is associated throughout the narrative with nature and the natural world. Within the context of the story, she serves as a living symbol of the transgression for which her mother is forced to wear the scarlet letter A. By the conclusion of the novel, Pearl prepares to begin a new life in Europe with her mother.12