How Does Roger Chillingworth Change Throughout The Novel
Prompt:
In a five-paragraph essay, trace the development of Roger Chillingworth in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne AND explain how he is perceived by other characters in the story. In The Scarlet Letter, Roger Chillingworth is a flakey man that has a gradual but note-worthy change as the story progresses. At first Roger Chillingworth, as he comes back from his travels, seems (despite his unattractive appearance) like a friendly, approachable, and well-educated man. However, this character changes to a more sinister and deleterious one as the chapters move on. The other characters develop assorted opinions of Chillingworth, too. His development in the story will be traced as with the way others perceived him. In the first place, Roger Chillingworth arrives to Boston and is soon to be of medical assistance to Dimmsdale since he is almost deathly ill. At that time he is a respected and kind scholar. No one of the town thinks much of Chillingworth in terms of him being a man with a heart full of vengeance and bad deeds. His knowledge of medicine and herbs of medical use makes him useful
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Most of the townspeople saw him as a kind and helpful man, and later on some start to draw suspicion and have an unsettling feeling about him. To Dimmsdale, the person Chillingworth has had the most interaction with, Roger is considered practically a best friend to him. Despite the poisonous behaviour towards Dimmesdale, he keeps Chillingworth around but also sees him as a frightening man. Hester Prynne once saw him as an intelligent and admirable man. However, she sees the changes in Chillingworth, and notices how he’s become more evil and very manipulative in chapter 14 when they met in the forest. She sees the devil taking hold of him and doing his “dirty deeds.” All this shows the diverse perceptions the characters have about Roger
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