The Scarlet Letter에 나타난 「Pearl」에 關한 小考 = A Study on「Pearl」in The Scarlet Letter

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne's masterpiece of which the theme is guilt-consciousness, gives us many problems. In this thesis, I made a study of Pearl, one of the characters in the novel. I think Pearl player an impgrtant role in it, as her name shows. She is a natural-child who was born between Hester Prynne, a beautiful woman, and Arthur Dimmesdale, a young minister. Pearl is the living hieroglyphic and another form of the scarlet letter that reveals the secret between Hester and Dimmesdale.
I mentioned what the author symbolizes by Pearl, analysing some necessary events in the novel. The symbolic expressions about Pearl by different people-some general expressions by the author and some other special expressions by the characters-, Pearl's character and behaviors, and the significance of Pearl's appearance in the novel, are three main subjects. More than all, I put emphasis on the significance of Pearl's appearance in the novel.
It is hard to understand her perverse character and behaviors, but her perversity gives an indispensable meaning to the novel. The significance of Pearl's appearance in the novel is that she is a spiritual conscience to other characters, especially to her mother. The fact that she is a spiritual conscience is proved in this thesis by the interpretation of Hawthorne's symbolism. In a word, his symbolism here means that Pearl appeared as a moral agent in the novel.
To be brief, Pearl was meant, above all things else, to keep the mother's soul alive, and to preserve her from blacker depth of sin.