Of course, it is highly significant that not only does
Hester choose to embroider the "A" on her breast with such beauty, but also that she
calls the fruit of her "sin" Pearl - gained at great price. Pearl in the novel is seen
as an "elf-child", a denizen of the world of romance, rather than a socially oriented
individual of the kind encountered in realist novels. The child's laughter and tears are
extreme responses to situations, signalling a lack of proportion that makes social
intercourse and reciprocity difficult. Of course, the fact that Pearl lives in isolation
does not help her social interaction.
In the novel, Pearl
seems to act as an incarnation of physical pleasure and imaginative freedom, standing in
direct opposition to the Puritan way of life. Her vitality and attractiveness serve to
highlight the limitations of the Puritan lifestyle, though her unruliness also indicates
the dangers of uncontrolled indulgence. She is, after all, the living embodiment of the
same illicit passion that led to the imposition of the scarlet "A." Significantly, her
mother sustains her love for Pearl, the symbol of illicit passion, and that indicates
Hester's staunch refusal to acknowledge her own act of sin in begetting Pearl, thus
giving another sign that Hester refuses to be categorised and labelled as a sinner under
the Puritan rules of conduct.
Pearl then arguably acts as a
symbol of the forces of celebratory life-giving that oppose the bleak life-denying
aspects of Puritanism which have caused both Pearl and her mother such
grief.
No comments:
Post a Comment