Comparison Of Dimmsdale And Chillingsworth In 'The Scarlet Letter'

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Reverend Dimmsdale and Roger Chillingsworth in “The Scarlet Letter” were two very different characters with different agendas and end goals. Dimmsdale thought that Chillingsworth was there to help him, but in reality Chillingsworth was there only to further his own agenda in finding Hester’s secret lover. Reverend Dimmsdale and Roger Chillingsworth’s relationship in “The Scarlet Letter” was a parasitic one because Chillingsworth was always mentally torturing Dimmsdale, Chillingsworth would follow Dimmsdale, and at the end of the story Chillingsworth dies because he could not torture Dimmsdale anymore.

Chillingsworth came to the town for one thing, to find out who Hester’s secret lover and adulterer was. This agenda was further pushed along when Chillingsworth moved in with Dimmsdale. When living with Dimmsdale under the alias of a medicine doctor, Chillingsworth would mentally torture Dimmsdale. He does this by subtly making comments to bring about fear and paranoia in the minister. Believing that he has found the man who he has been looking for, Chillingsworth then begins to physically examine Dimmsdale’s body one night. Chillingsworth finds a mysterious object on the body of the minister that the book does …show more content…

One specific time that is mentioned in the book is whenever Dimmsdale was standing on the scaffold that one night. The book describes how when Dimmsdale, Pearl, and Hester were standing there, Chillingsworth walked up to them and asked the minister to walk home with him. How did Chillingsworth know exactly where to find Dimmsdale had he not been following him? When asked how Chillingsworth knew where to find him, Chillingsworth answered by saying that he was at another minister’s deathbed. Such coincidences never happen and it is to be believed that Chillingsworth could simply not keep the reverend out of his sight for he was Chillingsworth’s parasitic

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