From Heroine To Sinner In D.H. Lawrence’s essay, “On The Scarlet Letter”, he rips apart the character from the novel The Scarlet Letter. The motive of his essay is to show how Hester Prynne should not be praised for the sin she commits in the story. D.H. Lawrence expresses his dislike towards Hester by using concise syntax, biblical allusions, and a mocking tone throughout his essay. Lawrence’s brief syntax displays the disgust he has towards Hester and allows him to employ other effective literary devices. Lawrence introduces the idea that the Hester is the wrong character to be admired. Towards the middle of his essay, Lawrence states, “The human spirit, fixed in a lie, adhering to a lie, giving itself perpetually the lie” (Lawrence). He uses his brief syntax to also add in repetition that confronts the people tricked into believing Hester as a hero. Consistently, Lawrence attacks Hester using his syntax to further expose the unjust characterization done to Hester by Hawthorne. Lawrence explains how the “A” that Hester wears is …show more content…
Lawrence first explains how Hester is praised on the scaffold in which she stands. He proceeds to refer to her as “The Woman, the Magna Mater. A. Adulteress! Abel!” (Lawrence). This last word mentioned, Abel, is the name of the brother killed by his brother in the Bible. Lawrence includes Abel as one of Hester’s names to show how she was actually victimized in the story which lead to the massive liking towards herself and Hawthorne. He also references many more Bible stories, but includes one about a woman who is a prostitute and repents for her acts. Lawrence uses this story to tell Hester to “wipe off the mud with your hair, another Magdalen” which refers to the mess she made of Dimmesdale (Lawrence). He includes this allusion to display how Hester fools everyone by acting so kindly to the one she