The Scarlet Letter is an early American novel written in 1850 by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The Scarlet Letter was written about Hester Prynne, who was a woman living in Puritan times, battling with sin, guilt, and isolation, while trying to find redemption from her act of adultery. Sin is the most prominent theme in The Scarlet Letter. The book is about a woman whose act of adultery ruined her life. Hester Prynne’s affair was the first appearance of sin in the book. “The scarlet letter burned on Hester
"She is my happiness... she is my torture” (103). These are the words Hester used to describe Pearl. Although Pearl is a secondary character in the novel, The Scarlet Letter, she is very significant and symbolic to the story. Pearl is the daughter of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale and is the product of a sinful affair that is frowned upon by their puritan society. Throughout the novel Pearl is a wild child who is unlike any other puritan child at that time. She is a child that is not at ease