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Chillingworth Paint It Black Analysis

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“Paint It Black” written and preformed by The Rolling Stones is a rather direct reference to Chillingworth and his spiral into darkness during his unrelenting quest for revenge. Chillingworth is a deformed cruel older man who wants nothing but to seek vengeance on Hester and Dimmesdale for their crime. Chillingworth is seen as in relation with the “Black Man” by Pearl and is often seen as the representation of the Devil, or as doing the Devil’s work throughout the novel. The song begins with the line “I see a red door and I want it painted black.” This line is extremely powerful as Chillingworth is regularly described as hosting a form of darkness and the main feature of Hester is of course her infamous Scarlet Letter. This line truly highlights Chillingworth’s life-goal of completely destroying Hester and her lover, especially by bringing them down to his level, bringing them over to the “dark” side. As the song continues it refers constantly back to the fact that the subject wants all colors and any expression of joy to be altered into the blackness that surrounds him. “I see people turn their heads and quickly look away” is a direct compassion to how the Puritans in Boston …show more content…

Chillingworth knows that in his search for revenge he is getting closer to the Devil and is incorporating that, and this self reflection only serves to drive him farther into his goal. With Chillingworth interacting with the Devil and doing his work is thus isolated from the baseline society thus having no one to turn to but the Devil and his demons. This is dangerous because Chillingworth knows he has no one and will never give up his goal until it is completed, with the destruction of Hester and

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