Analyzing the Social Impact of The Scarlet Letter

Today we charted the "good" vs. "bad" traits of each of The Scarlet Letter's main characters. At the end of the day, here are the "Good Ratings" for each of the characters (more points=more good):

-.5 Chillingworth
0 Pearl
1.5 Dimmesdale
2 Hester

We also identified many different conflicts in the novel:

• man vs. self
• Dimmesdale vs. guilt
• Hester vs. guilt
• Hester vs. temptation
• Chillingworth vs. manhood (ugly/cheated on/outcast)
• man vs. society
• Hester vs. Puritan "gossip"
• Dimmesdale vs. "reputation"
• Pearl vs. "elf-child"
• man vs. man
• Dimmesdale vs. Chillingworth (revenge/truth/Hester)
• witch vs. Hester (soul/evil)
• Black Man vs. Chil/Hest/Dim
• Hester vs. Pearl (behavior/truth)

From our list, there are various antagonists and protagonists in the novel depending on which conflict a reader focuses on.

Also today, we watched a few clips from the recent film, Easy A. The ideas of Hester, Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, and Pearl have been present throughout ancient and modern history. We will continue to talk about Hester as an archetype tomorrow.

Lacan and The Scarlet Letter: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0ByVKpn2OdpFAMFhRNXB0dk5zM3M