Pearl’s character in the Scarlet Letter: A Cognitive Stylistic Approach

Abstract

The article examines the nature of Pearl in The Scarlet Letter (1850) by Nathaniel Hawthorne in the framework of cognitive stylistics, both linguistic and stylistic decisions and how they create mental and emotional perceptions of Pearl in the mind of the readers. Through the qualitative textual analysis, the study mentions how Hawthorne implies imagery, metaphor, symbolism, irony, and interaction with the characters that develop Pearl into a child and a living personification of sin, purity, and moral intuition. It also is based on cognitive stylistic theories and shows how readers form mental constructs of Pearl using cognitive functions of attention, memory, inference, and blending of concepts. The analysis of data reveals that the characterization of Pearl is an outcome of a complicated interaction between the narrative technique and reader cognition and demonstrates how the style used by Hawthorne contributes to creation of empathy, tension and the establishment of symbolism. In this regard, the paper refers to cognitive stylistics as a significant methodological device when interpreting literary characterization.