Chillingworth is the long lost husband of Hester Prynne. Hester's affair during his time away, forced him to make a secret identity. Chillingworth's identity affects the way a lot of things happen in the novel. When Chillingworth first arrives into town he claims to be a doctor, by saying this he has to take room with Dimmesdale, to nurse him back to health. Chillingworth's living arrangement leads to the revelation of Dimmesdale's secret. When the truth is revealed the start of Chillingworth's torturous act upon Dimmesdale begins.
Dimmesdale and Chillingworth both have secrets that make them look and act differently, their secrets affect their character and how they do their job. Dimmesdale is the father of Pearl but he doesn 't want to face the same humiliation as Hester did for his sins. Because of his secret he self punishes and fasts, he also preaches better than he did before although his health is failing. Chillingworth’s secret is that he was the husband of Hester while he was away, before she cheated on him. Chillingworth gets uglier and uglier driven by the need to get revenge on Pearl’s father. Both characters affect others and their own lives good and bad because of the secrets they keep.
From the beginning of the book, Dimmesdale is a hypocrite. Although it is implied that he preaches against premarital sex as a Puritan pastor, Dimmesdale commits adultery with Hester. After getting Hester pregnant, he avoids visiting Hester and his daughter for seven years. For seven years, Dimmesdale pretends he is innocent of adultery and gets praises for his faux act. Dimmesdale even says so himself that he feels extremely guilty and would rather share his crime than to keep it in secret. He obviously does not prefer sharing his crime with the public because he waits seven long years to do so. He was too obsessed with what others think and gossip about him.
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,
People say, “revenge is a dish best served cold.” Chillingworth took that expression to heart by, over a long period of time, torturing Dimmesdale emotionally for the crime he had committed. In the beginning, Hester kept the secret from Chillingworth, but he vowed to find out who the father was, saying “‘Never, sayest thou’… with a
Literature has been around for many ages. There are many different types of literature fro. many different times. The way people write has changed throughout the years. American literature is commonly talk about because it is well liked, although sometimes it can be hard to understand if you are currently a student. There is nothing quite like the stories that were written in this time. The Devil and Tom Walker, The devil and Daniel Webster, The Man in the Black Suit, and The Scarlet Letter all things in common because they all describe the devil in a special way along with authors of the stories were all men.
Why isn’t the minister seen as a horrible person and Chillingworth is? In the Book The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Dimmesdale, the Minister, has committed this terrible crime and some feel bad for him. This could be because Hester loves him; they are meant to be together. It’s interesting how Chillingworth can be seen as evil, but he is the one that was cheated on. He has mentally tortured Dimmesdale; obsessed with wanting him to suffer more that he has. Chillingworth wants him to live with guilt the rest of his life. Chillingworth doesn’t even love Hester anymore, but he continues to torture Dimmesdale because he wants him to live with guilt the rest of his life. Chillingworth is an evil character that seems worse than Dimmesdale. Even though Chillingworth didn’t commit the crime
It is as intertwined as yin and yang. Chillingworth and Dimmesdale need each other almost. Chillingworth makes him or the alleged father of Pearl his life 's ambition. He goes as far as to change his name and pose as a friendly doctor. He uses this to get close to Dimmesdale and now he cannot think of anything else. He neglects his wife and doesnt even care for her. He just wants the man to be shamed as well. He mentally tortures the Reverend and all with glee. It is clearly made known that after he completes his deed he will have no
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. Dimmesdale never admits that he is a father of the child, and is forced to suffer alone in guilt, while Roger Chillingworth seeks revenge. Hawthorne is known for his incorporation of symbolism into his writing. One of the most complex and misunderstood symbols is Pearl. She is a unique character. Often known as the product of her
Chillingworth faces a multitude of problems, but the concealed guilt transforms his body and changes his physiognomy for the worse. Originally, Chillingworth is portrayed as an innocent man with great knowledge, but after some time the studious nature that offered Hester a reason to accept his proposal changed, for the, “former aspect of an intellectual and studious man... had altogether [vanish],”(Hawthorne 145), which portrays the first inclination into the physical deformities of Roger Chillingworth after torturing Dimmesdale. What was once an innocent man free of guilt, is now a demonic person with the intent of revenge. This very message is repeated all throughout the book with Chillingworth, he was once a good man, but transformed due to the guilt he has set upon himself from marrying Hester, although he doesn’t blame her, he is after the sinner who didn’t fess up to the deeds. Visually to Hester, she has witnessed the alterations of a man who
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.
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
Hawthorne even describes him as an “unhappy man had made the very principle of his life to consist in the pursuit and systematic exercise revenge…” (Hawthorne, 254). The phrase “unhappy man” proves that Hawthorne wants the reader to see Chillingworth in a negative way. This quote also proves to the reader that Chillingworth’s main goal in life is revenge. When one wants revenge against another as badly as Chillingworth wants revenge against Dimmesdale, they are so focused on said person that they don’t bother to take a look at themselves. Therefore, Chillingworth cannot grow as a person until he gives up on his revenge plans. Since he does not do this until Dimmesdale dies at the end of the story, Hawthorne holds Chillingworth in a negative light. The only time Chillingworth is viewed somewhat positively is when he leaves money for Pearl after he dies - which, interestingly, is the only moment when Chillingworth seemed to put aside his revenge after Dimmesdale had passed
Roger Chillingworth and Arthur Dimmesdale were two of the main sinners in The Scarlet Letter. Both characters kept their sins secrete throughout the story. These sins included adultery, revenge, and even murder. Out of the two sinners, Chillingworth was the worst, because he never felt guilt for the terrible things he was doing. Dimmesdale spent his entire life in guilt and remorse for the sins he had committed (“Who”).
Hester Prynne is first introduced as a tall, dark haired woman with perfect elegance. Described as beautiful and ladylike, Hester appears more graceful than ever. I think Hester seems scared and apprehensive, but also willing to take responsibility for her actions and do anything necessary to protect her baby. The fact that Hester’s scarlet letter is so beautifully designed suggests that she accepts her consequences and this symbol as a part of herself and her new life moving forward. Hawthorne notes that Hester and her babe are similar due to the fact that they are both outcasts from society. In contrast, however, Hester has sinned and Pearl is pure, but now they are both paying the consequences of Hester’s adultery. Overall, the response