The Scarlet Letter

Nathaniel Hawthorne's character Pearl from The Scarlet Letter has always delighted me. Here's how he introduces her:

WE have as yet hardly spoken of the infant: that little creature, whose innocent life had sprung, by inscrutable decree of Providence, a lovely and immortal flower, out of the rank luxuriance of a guilty passion. How strange it seemed to the sad woman, as she watched the growth, and the beauty that became every day more brilliant, and the intelligence that threw its quivering sunshine over the tiny features of this child! Her Pearl!—for so had Hester called her; not as a name expressive of her aspect, which had nothing of the calm, white, unimpassioned lustre that would be indicated by the comparison. But she named the infant “Pearl,” as being of great price—purchased with all she had—her mother’s only treasure!

In The Scarlet Letter, little Pearl is born with an inexplicable understanding of things as they are:

Pearl’s aspect was imbued with a spell of infinite variety; in this one child there were many children, comprehending the full scope between the wild-flower prettiness of a peasant-baby, and the pomp, in little, of an infant princess. Throughout all, however, there was a trait of passion, a certain depth of hue, which she never lost; and if, in any of her changes, she had grown fainter or paler, she would have ceased to be herself—it would have been no longer Pearl!

I think I remember reading eons ago that Pearl is modeled after one of Hawthorne's own children. She is a marvelous spectacle of a character.

Comments

[tina]

Two things about Pearls:

(1 of 2) According to old Arabian legend, the fist pearl was formed when a dewdrop filled with moonlight fell into the ocean and was swallowed by an oyster.

(2 of 2) To convince Rome that Egypt possessed a heritage and wealth that put it above conquest, Cleopatra wagered Marc Antony she could give the most expensive dinner in history. The Roman reclined as the queen sat with an empty plate and a goblet of wine (or vinegar). She crushed one large pearl of a pair of earrings, dissolved it in the liquid, then drank it down. Astonished, Antony declined his dinner -- the matching pearl -- and admitted she had won.

[Sheryl]

Is that who she is named for?