Andrew Siciliano

Mrs. Yeaton

English 10 Pre-AP

1 November 2017

Pearl Characterization

The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a historical fiction novel that takes place in an

early settlement near present day Boston. In the novel each character is described in a unique way.

Specifically, the character Pearl, is characterized through the use of diction, tone, and figurative language

to describe Pearl.

Hawthorne begins to characterize Pearl with the use of condescending and gloomy diction. Pearl

is made out to be some sort of witch child, and this is emphasized by Hawthorne’s diction. For instance,

he calls her an “imp of evil, emblem and product of sin,”. Words like evil and sin help characterize her in

a negative way and suggest that she is in some ways evil and full of sin. She is called the emblem on sin,

meaning she is literally the symbol for sin in the community. She is also always being compared to super

natural things. Hawthorne says, “Once this freakish elvish came into the child’s eyes… it was if an evil

spirit had possessed the child.. she amused herself by gathering flowers, and one by one flinging them at

her mother’s bosom,”(Hawthorne 48) which indicated that she acts as if she is possessed and enforces that

she is evil and sinful. The diction used is condescending and gloomy, and helps characterize her into a

character who is made from sin, the symbol of sin, and imply that she is an evil sinner.

Hawthorne also characterizes Pearl with the use of evoking a certain tone. Throughout chapter 6,

where Pearl is the topic for nearly the whole chapter, a mysterious and evil tone can be detected. She is

ignored by the other children, and is an outcast, although, if a child does come up to her, she promptly

would “snatch up stones to fling at them,” and then laugh in a way that sounded like a “witch’s anathemas

in some unknown tongue,”(Hawthorne 45). This mysterious sinful action shows that she makes no

attempt to cover up her evil and try to connect with other children. Pearl’s sin and resemblance to a

possessed spirit or witch gets so out of hand that her own mother begins to ponder if Pearl is even her
own child, “‘Child what art thou?’ cried the mother… ‘Art thou my child in very truth?’”(Hawthorne 49).

This event emphasizes her evil and sinful actions, and evokes a mysterious tone.

Lastly, Pearl is characterized by the use of figurative language. For example, Hawthorne uses a

simile to describe her inhumane and evil actions, “Not seldom she would laugh anew, and louder than

before, like a thing incapable and unintelligent of human sorrow,”(Hawthorne 44). Here, she is being

compared to someone that is unable and unaware of sorrow that all other humans feel. Imagery is also

used to characterize Pearl, “The unlikeliest material - a stick, a rag, a flower - became the puppets of

Pearl’s witchcraft, and without undergoing any outward change became spiritually adapted to whatever

drama occupied the stage of her inner world. Her one baby voice serves as a multitude of imaginary

personages...,”(Hawthorne 46). This use of imagery connects the reader with Pearl playing to witchcraft.

It evokes a feeling and image that even the most childlike and playful thing Pearl does is evil and part of

witchcraft.

In conclusion, Pearl is characterized by Hawthorne in a very unique way. He utilizes a gloomy

and condescending diction, a mysterious tone, and figurative language like imagery and similes. These

all come together to emphasize Pearl’s witch-like and sinful behavior at this time in game novel.