Compare And Contrast Dimmesdale And Chillingworth

The human mind is a complex labyrinth of emotions, motivations, and thoughts which control how people act. Psychology is the scientific study of the human mind and its functions, and can be used to determine what influences a person's motives. Using this technique it is possible to analyze the mysterious incentives of Roger Chillingworth and Arthur Dimmesdale from The Scarlet Letter. Both characters have numerous driving forces; Dimmesdale is controlled by guilt, while Chillingworth is engulfed in his desire for revenge. Throughout the duration of the book these ‘forces’ determine how Chillingworth and Dimmesdale operate and why they carry out certain behaviors.
Revenge is a potent motive which can drive someone to do outrageous deeds in order to exact it. Roger Chillingworth is an indignant and timeworn man who was cuckolded by Arthur Dimmesdale, a young, handsome magistrate. Immediately after Chillingworth discovered his wife,

Hester Prynne, had cheated on him, he knew that he was to “Seek no vengeance, plot no evil against thee [Hester]” (Hawthorne 113). Chillingworth does not blame Hester for the affair, but blames Dimmesdale, which is apparent when he says “‘Instead Sooner or later, he must needs be mine,’” (Hawthorne 114). Chillingworth, physiologically speaking, should blame Dimmesdale for the liaison; Studies by Harvard University have shown that men are more likely to blame the male in an affair than the female (Austin 3). Thus, it is logical that Chillingworth is trying to accuse Dimmesdale for swindling Hester.
Implicating one party exclusively for an affair itself is strident, but torturing and indirectly murdering someone is not eminently peculiar.

Chillingworth, on a hunt to for vengeance constantly torments Dimmesdale, as these mortal enemies reside in the same house by order of the governor. While in this house Chillingworth, Dimmesdale's Doctor, observes Dimmesdale and administers drugs to ‘help’ the parishioner. While doing his actual job as a doctor, he messes with Dimmesdale by alluding to confessing to unknown sins. When Dimmesdale does not confess to his love for Hester, Chillingworth and Hester meet in the forest. Hester, worried about Dimmesdale’s health ask, “‘Hast thou not tortured him enough?’” and Chillingworth responds “‘No, no! He has but increased the debt!’” (Hawthorne 258). Again Chillingworth has a very natural response to Dimmesdale denying the apparent affair. When men find out their wife has cheated on them, their primal instinct is to kill or harm the cuckold, which is exactly why Chillingworth is doing (Smedley

13).
People often wonder why men do not want future girlfriends to find out about previous relationships where women cheated on them. A survey was conducted by MadameNoire, and it showed that men believed if a new partner found out about a previous girlfriend cheating it would make them look weak. This appears in the Scarlet Letter, as Hester has to promise Chillingworth that she will not reveal they are husband and wife: “Recognise me not, by word, by sign, by look!” (Hawthorne 115). Hester agrees to this and both character do not reference each other, as Chillingworth is worried about what the Puritan society will think of him.