Dimmesdale and Pearl share few similar traits, but Hawthorne makes these similarities significant. Passion greatly affects the lives of both Dimmesdale and Pearl. Dimmesdale commits adultery -- a sin of passion. Pearl inherits “all this enmity and passion [ . . . ] by inalienable right” (Hawthorne 87). From the moment Hester Prynne gives birth to her daughter, the sin of adultery marks Pearl permanently just as the scarlet “A” marks her mother. Throughout the entire novel, Pearl serves as a symbol of Dimmesdale and Hester’s passion. Although the same force of passion affects Dimmesdale and his daughter, he makes the choice to commit adultery while Pearl does not have the power to decide to be borne out of a sin. This sin inflicts grief upon both the father and daughter. Dimmesdale, “overcome with a great

Similar in some ways and complete opposites in others, traits that Pearl and Dimmesdale possess represent those of most parents and their children. Pearl and Dimmesdale show that two people, bound by blood relation, usually share similar qualities, but each can also have his or her own intrinsic qualities that the other lacks. In the harsh Puritan society of the early 1600s, most parents would not allow their apples (their children) to fall far from the tree, but Pearl is an example of an apple that fell farther than most.

horror of mind,” feels a “gnawing and poisonous tooth of bodily pain” because his guilt haunts him (Hawthorne 136). It continues to haunt him for as long as he refuses to confess to the sin. Grief also bears a heavy weight on Pearl, not just her father. Hawthorne writes, “Nothing [is] more remarkable than the instinct, as it [seems], with which the child [comprehends] her loneliness” (86). Not only does Pearl’s father refuse to acknowledge her as his daughter, but also the children of the town refuse to allow her to play with them. How can she not be grief stricken? The mutual love between her mother and herself helps Pearl to cope with the grief; neither one of them receives Dimmesdale’s acknowledgement, so they must stick together and support each other.

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