D.H. Lawrence belittles Nathaniel Hawthorne’s portrayal of Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter. The critic scorns Hester by recognizing her as a disgrace to the Puritan community and epitomizing her as the embodiment of sin. He berates Hester effectively with a range of literary allusions and concise, jabbing syntax. Lawrence also sharpens his critique on Hester with a sardonic tone to epitomize her ignominy. Lawrence utilizes a variety of literary allusions to portray Hester Prynne as the epitome of sin. In his essay, Lawrence refers to The Deerslayer by James Cooper, in which the deerslayer becomes infatuated with a woman named Judith Hutter. Unlike Dimmesdale, Hester’s illicit lover who succumbs to his erotic desires, the deerslayer “refuse[s] …show more content…
To drill his argument, Lawrence uses long sentences followed by short phrases. After chiding Hester for seducing Dimmesdale, he states that she “ [is] fixed in a lie, adheres to the lie, and gives itself perpetually the lie,” ultimately arguing that “all begins with “A” (Lawrence 27-28). Lawrence jabs at Hester, not simply with a long, descriptive statement about the ignominious “A” but with a ruthless phrase tacked right after Hester’s list of wrongdoings. By repeating the “A,” Lawrence effectively wounds Hester because he uses the A as a series of stabs rather than using it to praise Hester. Lawrence also employs one-word phrases to magnify Hester’s sin and snipes that Hester “tickled [Dimmesdale] in the right place and fell” followed by the word “Flop” to intensify Hester’s spiritual downfall (Lawrence 42-43). Lawrence uses this word to convey that Hester’s purity shattered, ending her spiritual Puritan life. Such words scald Hester effectively because they convey a message that jabs Hester and upbraids her for her supposed innocence.This one word that portrays Hester’s ruination puts an end to all unnecessary …show more content…
For instance, Lawrence mocks Hester for being ‘Abel,’ a misspelling of ‘able’ to illustrate the contrast between Abel the victim and Hester the enemy. He repeats the word in a scathing manner to describe Hester, and ‘Abel’ becomes so ingrained in the essay that the branding “becomes a farce” (Lawrence 23). Lawrence chooses the word ‘farce’ to exemplify the absurdity of Hester’s newfound status as “able.” He mocks Hawthorne for even calling Hester ‘Able,’ despite that the adulteress committed an unmentionable deed. Lawrence misspells ‘Able’ to point out that Hester’s status as an admirable person is a crude joke, or a complete ‘farce.’ Furthermore, Lawrence constantly repeats the word ‘pure’ to ridicule the way Hester ignores her ignominy and act defiant in front of society. He caustically encourages Hester to “keep up the appearances” because after all, the “pure are the pure” (Lawrence 45). Lawrence’s use of sarcasm and repetition attacks Hester’s sinful nature into the essay, making his use of diction effective. By mocking Hester of her supposed purity, Lawrence jeers at the sympathy she receives, thereby achieving his purpose of demeaning the protagonist for her
Hester Prynne is a character who gave up everything, even love, for her child. Hester Prynne sacrificed her peace, her beauty, her entire being for her child and this shows her determination and profound understanding of the world. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s piece, “The Scarlet Letter” shows the other side of the sinner’s story and not as a villain, but a victim.
The Scarlet Letter starts off by throwing Hester Prynne into drama after being convicted for adultery in a Puritan area. Traveling from Europe to America causes complications in her travel which also then separates her from her husband, Roger Chillingworth for about three years. Due to the separation, Hester has an affair with an unknown lover resulting in having a child. Ironically, her lover, Arthur Dimmesdale, is a Reverend belonging to their church who also is part of the superiors punishing the adulterer. No matter how many punishments are administered to Hester, her reactions are not changed. Through various punishments, Hester Prynne embraces her sin by embroidering a scarlet letter “A” onto her breast. However, she is also traumatized deep within from everything she’s been through. Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts this story of sin by using rhetorical devices such as allusion, alliteration and symbolism.
In his essay On the Scarlet Letter, D.H. Lawrence explores Nathaniel Hawthorne’s portrayal of Hester Prynne. Lawrence focuses on and condemns Hester’s sin itself rather than its consequences. Instead of supporting Hawthorne's depiction of Hester as an innocent character, Lawrence sheds light on what he believes is her true character, a deceiver. He argues that Hester Prynne has a false appearance of purity through his use of critical diction, sarcastic tone, and biblical allusions.
Hester Prynne is seen by many as worthy of respect and admiration throughout Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter. She is ultimately seen as a hero in many areas of the novel. Literary critic Mark Van Doren argues that Hester Prynne is a heroic citizen who rises above the consequences of her sin. Van Doren argues that Hester Prynne should be seen as a noble hero through his use of repetition, praiseworthy diction, and admirable tone.
Human nature thrives on labels and stereotypes; they are methods society uses to better comprehend others disposition and justify their behavior. However, when placed stereotypes can override individuality, and this can force one to conform to such labels, hide their true character, and change their persona. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester is a victim of such a stereotype. The Puritan society in which she lives confines and defines her based on her sin, and not by a totality of her actions and character. Nevertheless she emerges, reborn, as her own person once again. Hester Prynne's development through the use of archetypes, symbols, and Romanticism reinforce the theme of the effects of stereotypes and labels and their refutal in The Scarlet Letter.
In D.H. Lawrence’s essay, “On The Scarlet Letter,” he criticizes Nathaniel Hawthorne’s wrongful idolization of Hester Prynne. Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Hester is treated as a victim rather than the criminal Lawrence believes her to be. In Lawrence’s essay, he analyzes Hester’s sin and mocks the book for becoming a farce. He focuses on the causes of Hester's sin, rather than the consequences. In analyzing Hester Prynne, Lawrence is effective in achieving his purpose due to his satirical tone, choppy syntax, and use of biblical allusions.
One of the most engrossing aspects of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is the unambiguous fact that all the characters in the book are subject to false accusations from the self righteous society depicted throughout the novel. Hawthorne persistently displays his negative opinion of the Puritan society through multiple characters’ experiences. In fact, it is believed that Hawthorne added the “w” to his name in order to distance himself from his Puritan ancestors (Sampson). The people in Hester Prynne 's life are consistently misconceived by the townspeople while Hawthorne makes their actual personalities clear, invalidating the society’s harsh and cruel assumptions.
Lawrence uses biblical allusions to help demonstrate that Hester is a sinner because they compare her to well-known figures in a way that brings out her corruptness. Lawrence compares Hester to Mary by saying she is “the sacred image of sinless Motherhood, whose infant was to redeem the world” (Lawrence). Mary is one of the most pure figures in religion and Lawrence is blatantly being sarcastic in his comparison of the two character to provide an idea of how ridiculous it is to consider Hester a hero. Mary was given the gift of Jesus by God while remaining a virgin and faithful to her husband. Hester on the other hand had a baby with a man she was not married to. Moreover, Hester is compared to Abel from the story of Cain and Abel. While Dimmesdale is the one who dies for their sins, Hester “lives on and is Abel” (Lawrence). One would think that Lawrence would compare Hester to Cain instead, considering he is the one who lives and Abel is the one who dies. By stating this, Lawrence is showing the irony and ridiculousness that Hawthorne ensures by condemning the pure and innocent Dimmesdale to death but the sinning and corrupt Hester to live on. He is also using “Abel” as a play on words in an ironic way, demonstrating that the A stands for able and Abel, but is given to the person farthest from resembling
The characterization of Hester Prynne demonstrates a contrast to pure society, as writer and critic D.H. Lawrence suggests in his article, “On the Scarlet Letter.” There is a genuine disparity in the methods Lawrence uses to portray Prynne, and the methods used by The Scarlet Letter’s author, Nathaniel Hawthorne. Because of his utilization of impactful syntax, religious allusion, and critical tone, D.H. Lawrence’s claim that Hester Prynne is a contradictory character to pure society is effectively justified when compared to the misleading seductive elements of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s writing.
D.H. Lawrence criticizes Nathaniel Hawthorne’s portrayal of Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter in his essay “On the Scarlet Letter.” By focusing on Hester’s sin itself rather than its causes and consequences, Lawrence expresses his opinion on the role of Hester in the novel. Lawrence utilizes choppy syntax, biblical allusions, and a sarcastic tone to clearly reveal his objection towards Hawthorne’s depiction of Hester as a victim of Puritan society’s condemnation.
Nathaniel Hawthorne paints Hester Prynne as a person, a person that made mistakes, but who worked tirelessly to atone for them. Hawthorne’s use of of positive diction and profound imagery also set Hester’s tone as a woman scorned, but
A change is to make or become different. In the Scarlet Letter change is very evident in the main character Hester Prynne. Hester has undergone both physical and emotional changes that have made her more acceptable to the Puritan Society.
In Nathanial Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, the reader meets the character Hester Prynne who as the novel progresses, one notices the changes in her character are very dramatic. The changes are both physical and in her mannerism’s. There are many significant events which took place before the start of the novel and during the novel. Some of these events that lead to this dramatic change include the affect of wearing the scarlet letter, the secrets which she keeps, and her daughter Pearl’s evil characteristics. By these events, Hester Prynne’s image is transformed throughout the time of the story.
One of the main symbols in Lawrence’s short story is Hester. She is the mother of Paul and both are main characters. Hester is a good representation of greed, selfishness and being materialistic. She values money more than her children “She had bonny children, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her, and she could not love them” (Lawrence, 295). Hester is not capable of creating...
The Scarlet Letter is a fictional novel that begins with an introductory passage titled ‘The Custom-House’. This passage gives a historical background of the novel and conveys the narrator’s purpose for writing about the legend of Hester Prynne even though the narrator envisions his ancestors criticizing him and calling him a “degenerate” because his career was not “glorifying God”, which is very typical of the strict, moralistic Puritans. Also, although Hawthorne is a Romantic writer, he incorporates properties of Realism into his novel by not idealizing the characters and by representing them in a more authentic manner. He does this by using very formal dialogue common to the harsh Puritan society of the seventeenth century and reflecting their ideals through this dialogue. The Puritans held somewhat similar views as the Transcendentalists in that they believed in the unity of God and the world and saw signs and symbols in human events, such as when the citizens related the meteo...