Hester is only human. She feels like many of us would in her position. Pearl is her salvation. Under stress she thinks maybe Pearl would be better of in "heaven," but haven't we all been there at some point in our lives thinking we'd be better off......? But because of Pearl Hester keeps from going off the deep end.
I really like how you make it clear that Hester is only a human being. She can be both weak and strong and have somewhat irrational thoughts because of the fact that she is a human being. Like you said, everyone has been to the point where they wonder if they were better of somewhere else.