Dr. Khan's Theory Of Poison In Scarlet Letter

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In the widely-acclaimed The Scarlet Letter, Arthur Dimmesdale’s seemingly untimely death could be attributed to Roger Chillingworth’s inner workings of revenge. Such malicious intent fueled Dr. Khan’s theory of a poisonous homicide, as he wrote in his article Atropine Poisoning in Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter (citation hereby properly referred to as Khan). Following his conclusion, Dr. Khan developed a theory of atropine poisoning issued by Chillingworth as a means of revenge against Dimmesdale. While Dr. Khan’s explanations stand true against atropine’s effects, the evidence doesn’t correlate to the purpose of the novel or Chillingworth’s true motive. In fact, Dr. Khan’s argument that Hawthorne’s in-depth understanding of atropine, Chillingworth’s …show more content…

Murder comes to mind, identical to what Dr. Khan suggested, but evidence from the text disproves this theory. The basis comes from Chillingworth’s character, whom despite his unethical obsession with vengeance, is still a very studious and intelligent man. Oftentimes, he is distinguished by the title— scholar, also having “self-relying intelligence” (Hawthorne 56) and knowledge that many doctors would spend lifetimes searching to possess (Hawthorne 91). Would such a man, with intimate knowledge of cures and poisons, yet close in relation and access to the minister, dare to commit a grievous crime? The answer is a simple and resounding no. First, Chillingworth knew Hester would announce his relation to her when she discovered his role in Dimmesdale’s death, accordingly bestowing him with a motive for murder. If she didn’t, the other townspeople would connect the evidence to Chillingworth and alert Hester to the same conclusion. Second, Chillingworth made a private vow to torture Hester’s lover due to the force of jealousy that he had stolen his wife away, “thou and thine, Hester Prynne, belong to me… my home is where thou art, and where he is” (Hawthorne 57) and to use Dimmesdale to sate his scientific hunger by immersing himself in the psychology of the mind, going as far as to delaying in soothing Dimmesdale’s physical suffering so he could observe its effects on Dimmesdale’s mental state (Hawthorne 92). Chillingworth declared to “let him [Dimmesdale] live… not the less he shall be mine,” showing how Chillingworth resolved to slowly

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