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Essay On Good And Evil In Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The Scarlet Letter'

523 Words3 Pages

Davine Francis
Mrs.Bauman
American Literature, Block B
1 December 2015
The Scarlet Letter, Roger Chillingworth a Symbol of Evil Good and evil, both coexist in Nathaniel Hawthorne 's novel The Scarlet Letter. Roger Chillingworth is a prime emblem of evil. Chillingworth is the husband of Hester Prynne, but when he’s gone she falls in love with someone else. Chillingworth eventually found out who the father was and was going to ruin and ruin his soul. Chillingworth started torturing Reverend Dimmesdale (Hester Prynne’s baby’s father), and as time went on he began to look like the devil. Chillingworth eventually tortures Dimmesdale so much to the point when he is not able to stay alive. Chillingworth also dies because he feels that he has no reason to be alive if he cannot torture Dimmesdale any more. Chillingworth is a prime symbol of evil because he plans to ruin someone 's soul. First, Chillingworth plans to …show more content…

Lastly, Chillingworth 's characteristics started to change and he begun to look like the Black Man. Chillingworth gets so tied up in Dimmesdale that he doesn 't realize that everything is changing about him. In the novel Nathaniel Hawthorne says "But, as he proceeded, a terrible fascination, a kind of fierce, though still calm, necessity, seized the old man within its gripe, and never set him free again, until he had done all its bidding." (Hawthorne ch. 10). When Hawthorne says this he means that as Chillingworth is continuing his torment on Dimmesdale he is becoming more devilish. This quote proves that Chillingworth is a perfect symbol of evil because he is transforming into the devil himself. In conclusion, Chillingworth is an excellent symbol of evil. He plans to ruin Reverend Dimmesdale 's soul. Chillingworth secondly pretends to be Dimmesdale 's friend but began to torment him. The leech lastly began to look like the devil. Chillingworth clearly upholds the symbol of evil. Work Cited
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. Ebook ed. Vol. 1.

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