"The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne: Why Pearl doesn't live up to the expectations of the Puritan Ethic.

The Scarlet Letter Essay In Nathaniel Hawthorne?s The Scarlet Letter, Pearl Prynne, one of the main characters, does not live up to the expectations of the Puritan Ethic. The Puritan Ethic is based on being a hard laborer, worshiping God, and praying the rest of the time. Pearl, the ?devil-child,? does not do any of this. Instead, she runs around in the forest, playing with her sticks and laughing at everything, and having fun. …

…for several reasons: she is automatically evil because she is the product of a sin, she lives, plays, and laughs in the wilderness, she dresses in bright, colorful clothes, she isolates herself from Puritan society, she is a ?smiling menace?, and her voice even sounds like that of a witch?s. For these reasons, Pearl does not only not meet the expectations of the Puritan Ethic but is even considered evil and involved in witchcraft.