VI. Pearl Practice Quiz — The Scarlet Letter
by Nathaniel Hawthorne — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: VI. Pearl
Why does Hester name her daughter "Pearl"?
She names her Pearl "as being of great price, purchased with all she had, her mother's only treasure," alluding to the biblical pearl of great price.
What is the very first object Pearl notices as an infant?
The scarlet letter on Hester's bosom. The infant's eyes catch the glimmering of the gold embroidery, and she grasps at it with a smile.
How does Hawthorne describe Pearl's physical appearance?
She has perfect shape, vigor, natural dexterity, and native grace—"worthy to have been brought forth in Eden" and surrounded by "an absolute circle of radiance."
Why does Hester dress Pearl in elaborate, richly decorated clothing?
Hester buys the richest fabrics and allows her imaginative faculty full play in decorating Pearl's dresses, driven by a "morbid purpose" that mirrors the ornate embroidery of the scarlet letter.
What does Hawthorne mean when he says "in this one child there were many children"?
Pearl possesses infinite variety of mood and appearance, ranging from the prettiness of a peasant baby to the pomp of an infant princess, yet always retaining a trait of passion.
Why is Hester unable to discipline Pearl?
Neither smiles nor frowns have any calculable influence on Pearl. She responds to discipline only by caprice, forcing Hester to stand aside and let the child be swayed by her own impulses.
What peculiar look does Pearl give that unsettles Hester?
A look that is intelligent yet inexplicable, sometimes perverse or malicious, accompanied by a wild flow of spirits that makes Pearl seem like a hovering, intangible sprite rather than a human child.
How do the Puritan children treat Pearl?
They scorn and revile her and Hester, sensing something outlandish and unearthly about them. They have a vague idea that the mother and child are at variance with ordinary society.
How does Pearl respond when other children approach her?
She grows "positively terrible in her puny wrath," snatching up stones to fling at them with shrill, incoherent exclamations that sound to Hester like a witch's curses.
What kind of imaginary world does Pearl create in her solitary play?
She transforms sticks, rags, and flowers into puppets for imaginary dramas, but she never creates a friend—only enemies, sowing "the dragon's teeth" from which armed adversaries spring.
What games do the Puritan children play that Hawthorne describes ironically?
They play at going to church, scourging Quakers, taking scalps in sham fights with Indians, and frightening each other with imitative witchcraft—all reflecting the community's normalized violence.
What does the flower-throwing scene reveal about Pearl?
Pearl gathers wildflowers and flings them one by one at the scarlet letter, dancing like an elf each time she hits it, showing her instinctive fixation on the symbol of her mother's sin.
What is Pearl's response when Hester says "Thy Heavenly Father sent thee"?
Pearl touches the scarlet letter and declares, "He did not send me! I have no Heavenly Father!"—a statement that echoes the townspeople's suspicion that she is a demon offspring.
What dual role does Pearl serve as both blessing and punishment?
Man punished Hester's sin with the scarlet letter, but God gave her Pearl to connect her to humanity and to be "finally a blessed soul in heaven"—making Pearl simultaneously a mark of shame and a source of grace.
What biblical allusion is embedded in Pearl's name?
The "pearl of great price" from the Gospel of Matthew (13:46), where a merchant sells everything he has to buy one pearl of extraordinary value.
What classical allusion does Hawthorne use to describe Pearl's imaginary wars?
He alludes to the Greek myth of Cadmus, saying Pearl sows "the dragon's teeth, whence sprung a harvest of armed enemies" against whom she rushes to battle.
To what natural phenomenon does Hawthorne compare Pearl's imaginative play?
The "phantasmagoric play of the northern lights"—constantly shifting forms of wild energy that dart up, dance, and sink down in rapid succession.
What face does Hester imagine she sees reflected in Pearl's eyes?
A face that is fiend-like, full of smiling malice, yet bearing the semblance of features she had known well—implying it resembles Dimmesdale or an evil spirit possessing the child.
How does Pearl's wild nature symbolically connect to Hester's inner life?
Hawthorne states that Pearl inherited "by inalienable right" all the enmity and passion from Hester's heart, and that the "warfare of Hester's spirit" at the time of conception was perpetuated in the child.
What is the only time Hester feels safe and at peace with Pearl?
When the child lies in the placidity of sleep. Then Hester "was sure of her, and tasted hours of quiet, sad, delicious happiness" until Pearl awoke, perhaps with that perverse expression glimmering beneath her opening lids.
What rumor do the Puritan townspeople spread about Pearl's origin?
They whisper that Pearl is a "demon offspring" conceived through the agency of her mother's sin, the same accusation once leveled against Martin Luther by his enemies.
What does "preternatural" mean in the context of Pearl's activity?
Beyond what is normal or natural. Hawthorne uses it to describe Pearl's constant state of mental and imaginative activity, suggesting something supernatural about her energy.