In The Scarlet Letter, is Pearl an unusual child, and if so how is she unusual?

First of all, Pearl in The Scarlet
Letter is less a character than a symbol; in fact, it is not until Chapter
XXIII that she becomes humanized as she kisses her father, the Reverend Arthur
Dimmesdale, who together with her and her mother Hester, stands on the
scaffold.

For the most part Pearl is symbolic of her
mother's sin and her passionate nature.  Pearl is described as a baffling mixture of
strong moods, laughing uncontrollably one moment and sullen at the next.  She has a
fierce temper, chasing after the Puritan children who deride her, and holding "the
bitterest hatred that can be supposed to rankle in a childish bosom." She described by
Governor Bellingham as being like the "children of the Lord of Misrule."  When she is in
the forest with her mother, Pearl is capricious, refusing to cross the brook; a "wild
and flighty little elf," she will not return to her mother until Hester replaces the
scarlet letter upon her bosom.

While Pearl is the
embodiment of her mother's beauty and passion, she is also representative of Hester's
integrity.  For instance, she pulls away her hand when Dimmesdale refuses to stand with
Hester on the scaffold in Chapter XII, complaining, "Thou wast not bold!--thou wast not
true!"

Intuitively recognizing hypocrisy, Pearl also senses
evil in the same manner.  For example, when she espies Chillingworth in Chapter X, she
shrinks from "the black man," exhorting her mother to come away from him because he will
harm her.

Very much the soul and spirit of her mother
Hester, Pearl appreciates intuitively the beauty of nature. In Chapter XVI, she delights
in the play of sunlight upon her and the beauty of the "complaining
brook."

While Pearl's strangeness as a character may be
attributed to her mental acumen and the abnormal environment in which she is raised,
with only her mother as a companion, certainly, there is something other-worldly about
her, at least until the events of Chapter XXII bring her completely into the world of
humanity.  But, this is the intent of Nathaniel Hawthorne, who utilizes Pearl more as
symbol of Hester's sin and waring spirit than as character.  As such, Pearl is one of
the most meritable elements of Hawthorne's classic novel.