Gillian Silverman on the Modern Scarlet Letter Placed on Amber Heard

Published: June 16, 2022

While much of the circus surrounding the Depp-Heard trial feels entirely of this moment (a livestream that regularly draws half a million viewers, the rhetoric around “believing women,” and the sheer power of Mr. Depp’s fans to shape the narrative) in many ways what we are witnessing is a story as old as time. “We no longer have what Hester Prynne had, but we have a version of it,” (referencing the 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter, whose subject is shamed for her adultery) said Gillian Silverman, Professor of English.

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