What does it mean to be considered a cold-blooded sinner? The dictionary defines a sinner as someone who is deeply depraved, evil, and bad. This is a spot-on description of Roger Chillingworth from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. In the novel, Chillingworth is introduced as a vaguely recognized man in a town square. It is later discovered that he is the long-lost husband of the main character, Hester Prynne. Chillingworth, being the ruthless man he is, uses his resources as an unknown physician to commit the most unfathomable sins out of all of the characters in the novel. Roger Chillingworth’s occupation as a physician gives him the ideal resources needed to commit the sins he does. When Chillingworth is first noticed in the town …show more content…
square, "he found the eyes of Hester Prynne fastened on his own, and saw that she appeared to recognize him, he slowly and calmly raised his finger, made a gesture with it in the air, and laid it on his lips" (Hawthorne 56). Chillingworth purposely signals for Hester to keep quiet because he wishes for his identity to remain a secret. As long as no one knows who he is, Chillingworth will be able to start over as a new person. While picking his new identity, Chillingworth chooses that of a physician. This is the perfect cover because he previously traveled worldwide and was able to learn how to pass as a qualified physician. As the novel progresses, Chillingworth goes to visit Hester and demands to know the identity of the man she slept with. Chillingworth says: "Thou wilt not reveal his name? Not the less he is mine," resumed he, with a look of confidence, as if destiny were at one with him. "He bears no letter of infamy wrought into his garment, as thou dost, but I shall read it on his heart. Yet fear not for him! Think not that I shall interfere with Heaven's own method of retribution, or, to my own loss, betray him to the gripe of human law. Neither do thou imagine that I shall contrive aught against his life; no, nor against his fame, if as I judge, he be a man of fair repute. Let him live! Let him hide himself in outward honour, if he may! Not the less he shall be mine!" This quote portrays Chillingworth’s evil intentions to do whatever it takes to acquire revenge against whomever has slept with his wife. This is the first time the reader is able to see Chillingworth as the evil, vindictive man he is. In addition, Chillingworth’s sins are much greater than that of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale, which include adultery, lying, and disloyalty to the townsfolk.
Once Chillingworth finds out that Arthur Dimmesdale is Hester’s co-sinner, he begins plotting revenge. Chillingworth gets the job as Dimmesdale’s physician and instead of giving him the correct vitamins and herbs, he feeds him toxic substances that are slowly killing him. As Hawthorne narrates, “No man for any considerable period can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true” (203). This quote is especially true in the case of Chillingworth. It is evident that he is not a bad man; he is an ordinary man who has been blinded by his desire for revenge. Hawthorne describes Chillingworth as, “evidence of man’s faculty of transforming himself into a devil” (158). Chillingworth used to be a loving, gentle husband, but has morphed into a revenge seeking, malicious …show more content…
man. Therefore, Chillingworth’s constant yearn for revenge causes him to change into a revenge-seeking monster.
Even though Hester and Dimmesdale have sinned gravely as well, there is a key difference between them and Chillingworth. Along with Hester, Dimmesdale feels guilty for his sin. The only reason he does not admit it is because he is naïve and fears judgment of her peers more than that of God. On the other hand, Chillingworth knows he has done wrong, but he doesn’t care and shows no remorse for his actions. Close to the end of the novel, Chillingworth says to Hester, “I have left thee to the scarlet letter….If that have not avenged me, I can do no more” (Hawthorne 161). Chillingworth is so ruthless and evil that he even desired revenge against his wife. Not only does he leave her to the scarlet letter, he makes sure it had fulfilled his desire. Lastly, at the very end of the novel, as Dimmesdale dies on the scaffold, he yells to Chillingworth, "May God forgive thee….Thou, too, hast deeply sinned!” (Hawthorne 240). Small things, such as this quote, emphasize to the reader how serious Chillingworth’s sins
are. In conclusion, Roger Chillingworth commits the gravest sin in The Scarlet Letter. Although Hester and Dimmesdale commit adultery, Chillingworth commits murder, which is a much greater offense. Hester and Dimmesdale both feel guilty and are looked down upon in society. On the other hand, Chillingworth feels no remorse for his sins and in his eyes, is doing the right thing. The combination of sins and lack of remorse are what make the ruthless Roger Chillingworth the biggest sinner in The Scarlet Letter.
Roger Chillingworth’s suffering arose from a domino effect that he had no control of. Roger was merely a casualty of a sin that he had no partake in, but it turned his life upside down for the worse. The big punch that started Roger’s suffering was the affair between Hester and Dimmesdale. His suffering from this event was unlike the suffering it caused Hester and Dimmesdale as they suffered for their own sin, but Roger Chillingworth did not suffer from his own sin. Roger’s suffering comes directly from his own wife having a child with another man, an event he had no say or action in: “his young wife, you see, was left to mislead herself” (Hawthorne 97). Left all by herself Roger’s wife, Hester, mislead herself as no one was there to watch
Chillingworth states, “What should ail me to harm this misbegotten and miserable babe? The medicine is potent for good.” (4:42) Although Hester believes that Chillingworth may be trying to poison Pearl, she allows him to administer the medicine to her. Shortly thereafter, the novel states that “it soon proved its efficacy, and redeemed the leech’s pledge.” (4:42) This is a direct affirmation from the book that Chillingworth was helping Pearl and Hester. His resentment is directed towards Dimmesdale, as he is the one who caused Hester to have an affair. However, even in his insanity, he was still able to help Pearl. This further shows that he has a good character, and that the only thing causing his bad temper is his distress over Hester’s
Chillingworth is trying to convince Dimmesdale not to confess he’s Hester’s lover because he’s afraid of losing his source of power. Once Dimmesdale refuses Chillingworth and confesses to everyone, “Old Roger Chillingworth knelt down beside him, with a blank, dull countenance, out of which the life seemed to have deported.” (Hawthorne p. 251) Chillingworth feels worthless and becomes lifeless once Dimmesdale confesses. It’s as if Chillingworth’s soul (or whatever was left of it) left his body and he became nothing. Chillingworth allowed his obsession to consume him so much that once he lost that source, he lost his life. After Dimmesdale’s death, Chillingworth shrivelled away because he no longer felt a need to stay. He’s described as, “This unhappy man [who] had made the very principle of his life to consist in the pursuit and systematic exercise of revenge, and when… there was no more devil’s work on earth for him to do, it only remained for the unhumanized mortal to betake himself whither his Master would find him tasks enough…” (Hawthorne p. 254) Chillingworth was wrapped in a cloak of corruption, and once his revenge was finished, he felt unfulfilled and empty. He allowed his obsession to become his only aspect in
This accurately reveals the initialization of Chillingworth’s deceptiveness to the people in order to meet his motives of learning about Hester and her involvement with whom she cheated with. It is these people, which Chillingworth so cleverly duped into believing his erroneous identity and vocation, that declare Chillingworth is to watch over Dimmesdale for the next seven years. One of Chillingworth’s tasks is to determine why Dimmesdale’s soul is so heavy and sin-filled. He suggests that, “a bodily disease, which we look upon as a whole and entire within itself, may, after all, be but a symptom of some ailment of the spiritual part,” (Hawthorne 128). In this context, with the use of the first-person plural, Dimmesdale is being victimized through the condescending nature of Chillingworth. In this sense, Chillingworth is victimizing Dimmesdale, subjecting him to the unfortunate notion which society places on the ailment of one’s soul; the notion that sin, the so-called ailment, on one’s soul is eminently malicious. In essence,
Secondly, Chillingworth’s actions were motivated by hate and a lust for revenge that overpowered him in the end. Therefore an awful change must have taken place in the doctor since “human nature loves more readily than it hates” (156). The actions of Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth were all motivated by a deep passion for one thing or another. However, the difference in their actions was that the adulteress and the minister acted out of love for each other while her husband acted out of anger and jealousy. Also, the physician underwent such a change that “there came a glare of red light out of his eyes; as if the old man’s soul were on fire, and kept smoldering duskily within his breast” (166). Eventually Chillingworth’s heart became so twisted and contorted that there were very noticeable differences in his personality.
As a respected physician, Chillingworth was “a man of skill in all Christian modes of physical science, and li... ... middle of paper ... ... powerful grip over him, dies peacefully, and Chillingworth dies soon after. To plot revenge in any situation is harmful. Chillingworth’s plot of revenge brings the downfall of Dimmesdale, as well as his own.
This strategy exemplifies Hawthorne’s theme that sin must be taken responsibility for because being dishonest will only lead to more temptation. Chillingworth does admit to one of his blames of leaving Hester behind, but choosing his temptation over redemption has formed his obsession to making Hester lover’s suffer miserably with guilt, which fuels Roger’s vengeance. Secondly, Chillingworth’s internal conflict was illustrated through the changing of his appearance. Roger was once a kind, well respected, man of science; However, his vengeance has transformed his physical character into a devilish creature. When Hester and Pearl were visiting Governor’s Bellingham’s house, Hester notices the change over Roger’s features, “how much uglier they were, how his dark complexion seemed to have grown duskier, and his figure misshapen” (93).
The fact that revenge destroys both the victim and the seeker is another theme presented in the Scarlet Letter. Dimmesdale is the victim of Chillingworth’s revenge upon Hester and whoever her lover happened to be. Dimmesdale, beside his self-inflicted harm was also not helped by the fact Chillingworth enjoyed watching him waste away. However, Chillingworth is also subject to this destiny as evidence by his change in the novel. Chillingworth was considered wise and aged in the beginning of the novel, although, later he is seen as being dusky and evil.
One of the various ways Chillingworth serves as the devil’s advocate is by being the antithesis of Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, the palpable Jesus figure of the narrative. Chillingworth keenly sets out to devastate Dimmesdale, as Hawthorne informs us when referring to Chillingworth's unearthing of Dimmesdale's secret, “All that guilty sorrow, hidden from the world, whose great heart would have pitied and forgiven, to be revealed to him, the Pitiless, to him, the Unforgiving!” The capitalization of the words "Pitiless" and "Unforgiving" confirm that Chillingworth is Satan in human form. Symbolically, on an additional, more perceptible note, Chillingworth steals one of Dimmesdale's gloves and drops it on the scaffold in the middle of the town. The sexton returns it to Dimmesdale saying, "Satan...
It is far too easy for a reader of The Scarlet Letter to simply brand Chillingworth as evil. The reader must pay attention to the complexities of the position which Chillingworth is forced into to understand that he is not evil or bad, at least not completely. Chillingworth is only a human put into a terrible position which he reacts to. In fact, it is not beyond reach to say that under his circumstances, Chillingworth was actually the hero, the protagonist; and Hester and Dimmesdale are the true villains.
...rth's crimes against the Lord are more malevolent than those committed by Hester and Reverend Dimmesdale. Chillingworth's quest for revenge and truth leads him down a path of sin, and in the Puritan perspective, down the path to Hell.
[INTRO] Chillingworth is the worst sinner because he committed blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, an unforgivable sin.
The audience experiences Roger Chillingworth in a dramatic yet critical way to justify change and retribution in one character as the consequence of cloaking deep sin and secrets. When first introduced in the story, the narrator refers to Chillingworth as “known as a man of skill” (97) through the point of view of the people in the Puritan town of Salem. He is brought into the story when the town was in a time of need of a physician to help the sickly Reverend Dimmesdale; his arrival is described as an “opportune arrival” because God sent a “providential hand” to save the Reverend. Society views Chillingworth as though as “heaven had wrought an absolute miracle” (97). The narrator feels when Chillingworth arrives in Salem he is good and has no intention of harm of others. Perhaps if the crime of the story had not been committed he would have less sin and fewer devils like features. Although this view of Chillingworth changes quickly, it presents the thought of how Chillingworth is before sin destroys him. Quickly after Chillingworth discovers Dimmesdale’s secret, his features and his character begin to change. The narrator’s attitude changes drastically towards the character from altering his ideas of the kind and intelligent persona to an evil being by using phrases such as “haunted by Satan himself” (101). The narrator portrays the people of the town believing Chillingworth is taking over the ministers soul in the statement “the gloom and terror in the depths of the poor minister’s eyes” (102). Throughout the book, Chillingworth ages exceedingly and rapidly. At the very end of the story, the narrator reveals another change in Chillingworth’s character; he searches for redemption by leaving Pearl a fortune a “very considerable amount of property” (203). By doing this, it shows
As the novel progressed, Chillingworth fits the profile of ‘vengeance destroys the avenger’. When Roger Chillingworth is first introduced to the reader, we see a kind old man, who just has planted the seeds for revenge. Although he did speak of getting his revenge, when Hester first met her husband in her jail cell, she did not see any evil in him. Because Hester would not tell him who she had slept with, Chillingworth vowed that he would spend the rest of his life having his revenge and that he would eventually suck the soul out of the man, whom she had the affair with. “There is a sympathy that will make me conscious of him. I shall see him tremble. I shall feel myself shudder, suddenly and unawares” (Hawthorne, 101) As the novel develops, Roger Chillingworth has centered himself on Arthur Dimmesdale, but he cannot prove that he is the “one.” Chillingworth has become friends with Dimmesdale, because he has a “strange disease,” that needed to be cured; Chillingworth suspects something and begins to drill Dimmesdale. “… The disorder is a strange one…hath all the operation of this disorder been fairly laid open to me and recounted to me” (Hawthorne, 156).
Vengeance became Chillingworth’s primary motivation and driving force. (Hawthorn, 153) “Who had grown to exist only by this perpetual poison of the direst revenge”, “there was a fiend at his elbow”! These excerpts from the novel are included to express Chillingworth’s motivation and support from demons. (Reid, 253) "Chillingworth reacts to the sight of his wife with a child with a repulsion physically manifested as a 'writhing horror' that twists 'itself across his features, like a snake gliding swiftly over them.'”. This becomes the turning point of Chillingworth’s personality. Chillingworth was a once lost man, who hoped to start a family, then he transforms into an individual who is so cultivated in the idea of revenge that it is his only reason for his existence. (Reiss, 201) "Chillingworth does not want Arthur Dimmesdale to repent; the vengeful Chillingworth desires the minister to become more sinful, more hypocritical, as evidence of his damnation". The physician views himself as the martyr of an evil that the minister casted of him by destroying his hopes and dreams of having a family and uses that thought to bolster his