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Chillingworth And Dimmesdale In Scarlet Letter

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In the novel The Scarlet Letter, Hester commits adultery with Dimmesdale and gets pregnant. The worst part about this sin is that this action affects so many people other than Hester. This sin affects two people in particular- Dimmesdale and Chillingworth. Her action causes a man of God, Dimmesdale, to become corrupt with many other sins and Chillingworth to become obsessed with revenge. Dimmesdale, a town minister, commits adultery with Hester and is the father of her daughter. He and Hester do not let the town know that he is the father of an illegitimate child. This causes him to commit many transgressions against God. In the story, Dimmesdale does not raise Hester the way he is supposed to. 1 Timothy 5:8 says “Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.(NIV)” After being shamed by the town, Hester moves out to an old cottage in the forest and has to work very hard to provide for her. Their affair also leads to Dimmesdale committing two of the seven deadly sins- lust and sorrow. Dimmesdale is full of self-pity in the years after the affair. Hester and Dimmesdale’s affair ends up being the reason he stops taking care of his body and then his death. …show more content…

As the town doctor, Dimmesdale comes to him and asks for his help. Dimmesdale and Chillingworth move in together and after many attempts at trying to help a physical condition, Chillingworth thinks guilt is causing his medical issues. After concluding that Hester cheated on him with Chillingworth, it leads him to commit a deadly sin- wrath. While living with Dimmesdale, Chillingworth tortures him mentally and causes him to go to insane and eventually die of guilt. After being embarrassed of Hester, this also causes him to neglect his wife, because he does not want to be seen with

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