Literary Conflict in The Scarlet Letter

This Storyboard That activity is part of the lesson plans for Scarlet Letter, The




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Activity Overview

Literary conflicts are often taught during ELA units. Building on prior knowledge to achieve mastery level with our students is important. An excellent way to focus on the various types of literary conflict is through storyboarding. Having students choose an example of each literary conflict and depict it using the storyboard creator is a great way to reinforce your lesson!

Much of the conflict in The Scarlet Letter stems from the sin that Hester and Dimmesdale commit in their Puritan society, and how they have to learn to live in that community with their guilt, and their sin.



MAN vs. MAN

The town leaders become concerned that Hester is an unfit parent for Pearl because of her wild behavior, and they want to take Pearl away from her.


MAN vs. SELF

Dimmesdale experiences such intense guilt at making Hester carry the burden of their sin alone that he begins to look sickly and unwell.


MAN vs. SOCIETY

Hester’s sin of adultery flies in the face of the Puritan ideals and laws of Boston at the time, resulting in her life-long punishment of wearing a scarlet “A” on her chest.



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Template and Class Instructions

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Student Instructions

Create a storyboard that shows at least three forms of literary conflict in The Scarlet Letter.


  1. Identify conflicts in The Scarlet Letter.
  2. Categorize each conflict as Character vs. Character, Character vs. Self, Character vs. Society, Character vs. Nature, or Character vs. Technology.
  3. Illustrate conflicts in the cells, using characters from the story.
  4. Write a short description of the conflict below the cell.



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Scarlet Letter, The



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