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 shame to the peak of the story, Pearl is a caring and intelligent child. Throughout the story she finds the hidden emotions of her mother and magnifies them for all to see. Pearl is the heart of literary symbolism. She is at times a device for Hawthorne to express the inconsistent and blurry qualities of Hester and Dimmesdale's illegal bond at times, and at others a forceful reminder of her mother's sin. …