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Chillingworth Character Analysis

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Dimmesdale is not the only character whose health suffers from keeping a secret, This also happens to Roger Chillingworth. When Chillingworth learns of the happenings of his former wife Hester, he decides to dedicate his time to find the man that ruined his marriage. What is most gripping is while Hester and Chillingworth have a conversation about the future of their marriage, Chillingworth states: “But, as for me, I come to the inquest with other senses than they possess. I shall seek this man, I have sought truth in books; as I have sought gold in alchemy. There is a sympathy that will make me conscious of him. I shall see him tremble. I shall feel myself shudder, suddenly and unawares. Sooner or later, he must needs be mine!” (Hawthorne …show more content…

Little to Chillingworth’s Knowledge Dimmesdale plans to confess his secret to the town making Roger unable to torture him any longer. And when this happens the townspeople state: “Nothing was more remarkable than the change which took place, almost immediately after Mr. Dimmesdale 's death, in the appearance and demeanour of the old man known as Roger Chillingworth. All his strength and energy- all his vital and intellectual force- seemed at once to desert him... he positively withered up, shrivelled away, and almost vanished from mortal sight” (231). At the death and confession of Clergyman Dimmesdale, Roger Chillingworth alongside his secret identity lost all purpose; he now had nothing to obsess or be secretive for. In addition to this his body that was already failing from his secret identity, collapsed because of the lack of purpose. In this journey Roger transformed from a strong healthy man to a person who became obsessive, secretive, unhealthy and old this all caused by his secret obsession. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Chillingworth to explicitly convey that secret will cause physical damage that can lead to

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