Hypocrisy In The Scarlet Letter

Easy A tells the story of an innocent teen, Olive Penderghast, who lied to her best friend, Rhiannon, about going out with a college boy to get out of going camping with her. After constantly being pressed by her best friend to tell her what happened on the date, Olive lies to Rhiannon and tells her that she lost her virginity. The lie is overheard and consequently spread like wildfire throughout the school. Olive suddenly becomes infamous and with her already tarnished reputation she agrees to say she “fooled around” with boys to bolster their reputations and further her own. She is ironically shamed by the entire school and loses her friends because of her deceit. Easy A is a modern-day version of The Scarlet Letter as it is constantly referenced

Both Olive and Hester are shamed and shunned by society for their “promiscuity”, however, Olive unlike Hester lies about her acts. They both endure extensive shaming for their “acts”, despite the difference in time period and beliefs, and as a result, both Olive and Hester lose the support of those close to them. Both Easy A and The Scarlet Letter demonstrate sexual hypocrisy in relation with gender. The Puritans viewed a woman committing adultery as a far greater sin than a man doing so. This double-standard between men and women is prevalent in modern-society today as depicted in Easy A. Following the scene where Olive pretends to have sex with Brandon, Brandon is congratulated for his acts that bolster his reputation around school and end his bullying, while Olive’s reputation continues to tarnish and she is often referred to as a tramp. Similarly, in The Scarlet Letter, Hester’s reputation is much more dishonored than Dimmesdale’s, even though he reveals his sin at the last second. Dimmesdale, continues to be looked at as a hero and the Puritans choose to ignore his sin in effort to continue the practice of their faith. In class, we talked about Hawthorne’s purpose to point out these hypocrisies and double-standards in the Puritan faith to act as a lesson and to resolve them today. However, watching Easy A it is clear to viewers that even modern society continues to use the Puritans hypocrisies and