Guilt is in everyone. Guilt is often to be seen within everybody, for it is a force that does not fail to capture even the mightiest of people. Guilt behaves as a reminder to let one know privately that he/she has committed a bad deed, after awhile people begin to give in and confess. However, there are those who refuse to accept the actions they have previously taken and hide it. Similarly, the act of act of concealed guilt apparent in the supposed antagonist, Roger Chillingworth, of The Scarlet Letter. Furthermore, in the story of The Scarlet Letter, Hester, has a child with the town’s minister Arthur Dimmesdale, however, Chillingworth, the actual husband of Hester gets wind of this news and immediately sets out to find out who committed
Chillingworth’s gravitation towards evil stimulates his lost of humanity, ultimately forcing his fate to become dependent on Dimmesdale’s public confession. When he arrives in the Puritan society in Boston, Chillingworth encounters his wife, Hester, enduring the consequences of public humiliation for an adulterous crime. Due to Hester’s defiant nature and her desire to conceal her partner’s name, Chillingworth was compelled to privately seek the identity of Hester’s partner. During his mission, Chillingworth earns the trust of Reverend Dimmesdale, whom he later identifies as Hester’s partner after discovering marks on the clergyman’s chest that closely resembles the shameful scarlet letter that Hester bears as punishment. Upon his discovery,
These traits both directly and indirectly affect the protagonists in The Scarlet Letter. Chillingsworth actions contribute to the scarlet letters theme of “suffering in silence” because of his relentless and vengeful attacks that promote despair. Chillingworth directly attacks Dimmesdale psychologically by “[p]rying into his recollections,
Chillingworth has let his revenge get the better of him. His intention is to hurt Hester and Dimmesdale since Hester cheated on him. The scarlet letter is a constant reminder of their sin, which fuels his
In the romantic novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays Roger Chillingworth as the prime example of pure evil. Chillingworth is characterized as a symbol for evil because Hawthorne illustrates him and his thoughts as being associated with the devil and Hell. Through Hawthorne’s descriptions, Chillingworth’s malevolent ideas and eagerness to expose Hester Prynne and Reverend Dimmesdale are revealed. Consequently, Chillingworth serves as the antagonist in the novel because of his plot to seek vengeance on and torment Dimmesdale. Through the use of figurative language and syntax, Chillingworth’s description and his actions symbolize him as a mysterious and wild evil doing the devil’s bidding.
Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne exposes the blindness of the Puritan people through the treatment of Hester, Chillingworth, and Dimmesdale’s external characters. Hester Prynne is labeled as an adulteress and mistreated by society because of their unwillingness to see her true character. Chillingworth, the husband of Hester, leads the town to believe he is an honorable man and skillful doctor, when his true intents root from his vindictive nature Finally, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, Hester’s lover and the father of her baby, acts as the perfect man therefore the town views him as an exemplar model, while he is truly a sinner. In the novel, Hawthorne portrays Hester as a strong, resilient woman, though the members of her community
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapters fourteen through twenty-four, concludes the novel with astonishment. Due to previous events, Hester is forced to wear a scarlet letter as a form of punishment but surprisingly, with time, she begins to be respected and admired by society. Later, we realize that chillingworth is plotting against Dimmesdale and should be stopped. Hester and dimmesdale have a meet at the woods where things get rather intimate. After the meet on the woods events occur which lead to dimmesdale’s death but also his release from guilt.
Fatal flaws have been shown in works of literature throughout the centuries, causing the destruction of many characters. In the novel, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, three of the main characters each have a fatal flaw. The novel, set in Puritan Boston between 1642-1679, tells the story of Hester Prynne through third person narrative. Hester begins her journey in the novel when she is brought from jail for her punishment in having an affair with someone in the town, resulting in her pregnancy. Her husband, Roger Chillingworth, who she believed dead, sought out revenge against the unknown father of Hester’s child.
This sin negatively affected many of the characters. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne Chillingworth, Hester, and Dimmesdale are all negatively affected by the sin that is committed (however), Dimmesdale was the person that suffered the most. Chillingworth, the husband Hester was unfaithful to, is one of the main characters that suffered because of the sin that was committed. Chillingworth knew
Midway through chapter fourteen, a dialogue between Chillingworth and Hester is occurring and Hester states, “Better he had died once” (Pg. 117) referring to Dimmesdale which forces Chillingworth to retaliate in the argument which leads to a great revelation in chillingworth’s mindset. He opens his eyes to a mirror and realizes the man this has turned him into. “... lifted his hands with a look of horror, as if he beheld some frightful shape.” (Pg. 118). Chillingworth sees the man he has become from the fact that Hester forced him to look back to see what he had done.
Many characters from The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, changed throughout the progression of the novel, — including Chillingworth, Hester, and even Pearl herself. No character, however, has changed as much as Dimmesdale has. Towards the beginning of the novel, Dimmesdale tries to ignore his sinful actions. Near the middle of the book, the clergyman, with the ‘help’ of Chillingworth, is able to realize his wrongdoings, and starts obsessively thinking of those wrongdoings. Around the end of the novel, with the help of the forest’s freedom, is able to finally repent correctly for his sin.
Roger Chillingworth, husband of Hester Prynne leaves for two years and finds out that she had an affair with the minister Arthur Dimmesdale. Hester kept this a secret for seven years and when Roger found out about it, it changed him. In the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, he writes about how the pain changes Roger. The reader feels the most sympathy for Roger Chillingworth because of three reasons; Hester, The pain of the betrayal and how it changed Roger, and the way he views himself betrayed him.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is a novel that focuses on sin in the Puritan society. Hawthorne revolves the theme around the four main characters Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, Roger Chillingworth., and Pearl. Hester Prynne is forced to wear the scarlet letter ‘A’ after committing adultery against her husband Roger Chillingworth, with the minister Arthur Dimmesdale. As a result an odd child is born.
The narrator portrays him as an intelligent but angry old man that does not have any interest in his wife any longer unless it is plotting revenge. One theme in this chapter is something that can slowly destroy people mentally, guilt. The irony that took place in this story is that Chillingworth is trying to find the father of his wife's child. The main theme in chapter three and four is obeying the law of the people and if failed to be done it will end in punishment. Journal Entry 3: Chapters 5-6 For the rest of Hester’s life she will be forced to wear a red embroidered “A” at all times on her clothes.
Here, Chillingworth establishes a trusting, respectable relationship with his patient, thus enabling him to probe and cripple Dimmesdale’s mind. Even though he presents a face of scholarly, compassionate mien, the sinful obsession existing within begins overtaking his person. In private he experiments with mind games “speak[ing] in riddles” to his patient (Hawthorne 123). However, Chillingworth’s malicious acts lack complete concealment as his physical appearance demonstrates how his internal evil destroys his body. Hester Prynne takes note to this change.