Chillingworth's Obsession Quotes

Obsession, the attachment of an object to one’s personal survival, is a dangerous state of being and a gateway for evil actions. However, most victims of fixation are not inherently wicked and often, the addiction develops from pure and sincere intentions. Nonetheless, concupiscence’s deep roots within the hearts of man can corrupt the best of intentions, as seen in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter. Portrayed through the character Roger Chillingworth, obsession’s importance in the novel develops from the scene in which he first appears: the public shaming of his wife. At the initial scaffold scene, Roger Chillingworth begins a descent into savagery through an obsession that consumes him throughout the novel, made most salient

in his initial recognition of Hester, outward malice towards Hester, Mr.

Dimmesdale, and Pearl on the scaffold, and the death of Mr. Dimmesdale, whence he loses his ability for revenge.
Roger Chillingworth, when he is first introduced, is looking for a happy reunion with his wife but he instead finds her being shamed for committing adultery, thence his malicious nature and the development of his fixation are revealed through his physical description and sly smiles at the scene. However, he doesn’t reveal his identity or support his wife, he instead remains a distant observer. Chillingworth’s outward deformity, though apparently insignificant, is symbolic of his disposition. The narrator’s explanation that he “was slightly deformed, with the left shoulder a trifle higher than the right” (Hawthorne 55) demonstrates that the proclivity for evil already existed within him, and throughout the novel Chillingworth’s outward appearance worsens as his obsession consumes him. Chillingworth’s facial expressions provide another insight to his character. While talking to a

townsperson and pretending that he is not Hester’s husband, Chillingworth cunningly foretells, “ ‘The learned man,’ observed the stranger, with another smile, ‘should come himself to look into the mystery’ ” (Hawthorne 59). As he contrives his plot for vengeance, Chillingworth cannot hide his deep self-satisfaction as he grins while he talks. After watching the ignominy for a moment, Chillingworth contrives a plan. He reveals what he will set out to do, announcing, “It irks me, nevertheless, that the partner of her iniquity should not, at least, stand on the scaffold by her side. But he will be known!—he will be known!—he will be known!” (Hawthorne 60). The repetition of the phrase “he will be known,” marks the beginning of his downward spiral of obsession. In this scene, many of the darker aspects of Chillingworth’s character are hinted at, and the course of his actions and his quest to find the sinful man are foreshadowed.
At the midnight scaffold scene, Roger Chillingworth is not only obsessed with revenge, but it has become a part of him, as revealed through the narrator’s observation of his change in disposition, his reaction to seeing Dimmesdale’s letter, and his inability to hide his malice at the scene.

Many characters throughout the novel recognize a change in Chillingworth. The narrator recognizes that, although he was seemingly searching for truth, “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” (Hawthorne 119). As the novel progresses, the narrator notices that Roger Chillingworth is losing himself to his obsession. This is made most evident when Chillingworth discovers the marking on Dimmesdale’s chest. As confided by the narrator, “Had a man seen old Roger Chillingworth, at that moment of his ecstasy, he would have no need to ask how Satan comports himself, when a precious human soul is lost to heaven, and won into his kingdom” (Hawthorne 129). Whence Chillingworth discovers proof of his wife’s partner in sin, he dives deeper into his disturbing world of revenge. These instances of devilish savagery lead up to the midnight scaffold scene in which Arthur joins Hester and Pearl on the pillory of public shame. Chillingworth observing the spectacle, feels an immense joy and is “not careful then…to hide the malevolence with which he looked upon his victim” (Hawthorne 144). As

Chillingworth has definitive knowledge of Dimmesdale’s guilt, he dedicates himself to preparation for conviction.
The final scaffold scene, in which Arthur Dimmesdale dies, also marks the figurative death of Chillingworth, as corroborated by his image being that of the devil, his actions being that of a demon, and upon Dimmesdale’s death, his loss purpose in life. Chillingworth’s tormenting of Dimmesdale has as much of a negative effect on himself as it does on the minister as noted in the imagery of him as “a deformed old figure, with a face that haunted men’s memories” (Hawthorne 162). A result of his inner evil desire, Roger Chillingworth mutilated into a creature resembling Satan. Once Dimmesdale finally readies himself to reveal the truth of his culpability, Chillingworth’s source of life depletes. As he approaches Dimmesdale to beg him not to confess, “so dark, disturbed, and evil was his look, he rose up out of some nether region” (Hawthorne 235). All aspects of the once kind, old man are perverted into a now devilish creature. Once Dimmesdale finally passes, “Old Roger Chillingworth knelt down beside him, with a blank, dull countenance, out of which the life seemed to have departed” (Hawthorne 238), and with that all of his efforts at revenge are diminished. Essentially a lifeless corpse, Chillingworth devoted his soul and being to a morbid cause, destroying his only remaining humanity, and causing his death.
Through his course of action, Roger Chillingworth, although he had not initially committed sin like Hester and Arthur, is the most sinful in the novel. When a man dedicates himself to an act purely evil, it is bound to destroy any humanity within him. Honesty and acceptance, rather than deceit and revenge, are the only methods that can right a wrongful act and earn forgiveness, as proven by Hester Prynne. In pursuing morality, committing immoral acts of punishment is oftentimes more harmful than the original sin.