The Scarlett Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne. Symbolism.

She's Worth More Than a Diamond Pearls have always held a great price to mankind, but no pearl had ever been earned at as high a cost to a person as Hester Prynne, a powerful heroine in Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter. Pearl, born into a Puritan prison in more ways than one, is a mysterious character serving entirely as a vehicle for symbolism. From her introduction as an infant on her mother's scaffold …

…of the deepest and most absolute love imaginable. In the end, it is Pearl who kisses Arthur Dimmesdale, as he lies dying on the scaffold, having admitted his sin. She breaks a spell that had been over the couple in adultery, completing her service as a symbol of pain and hardship, but more importantly a symbol of love, beliefs, and the deep bond between two lovers condemned by the strict beliefs of the Puritan days.