Roger Chillingworth Scarlet Letter

Roger Chillingworth is completely baffled by both his patient’s condition and his state of mind. He works around the clock, making medicines and tending to Dimmesdale’s needs. One day, the reverend asks Chillingworth where he found an unusually dark, flabby herb. The doctor replies that he found them growing on an unmarked grave, and implies that the weeds are a result of a “hideous secret that was buried with him, and which he had done better to confess during his lifetime” (74). This sparks a conversation about confession and sin. Dimmesdale argues that there are various reasons for keeping one’s sin a secret, such as that no good will come from revealing the truth. Chillingworth replies that these people are only deceiving themselves and

First in the procession was the music, followed by armoured soldiers. After them came the group of magistrates, trailed by “the young and eminently distinguished divine, from whose lip the religious discourse was expected” (133). Dimmesdale appears better than ever, energized and able to keep up with the pace of the procession. He appeared stronger, his frame was not bent, and his hand was not over his heart. A sense of dread comes over Hester, because the minister seems remote and out of her reach. She is saddened by the thought that the connection between herself and Dimmesdale was a delusion, and that there was no real connection at all. Pearl asks whether or not the minister in the procession was the same minister that kissed her by the brook and what he would do if she ran over and kissed him now. Hester seems flustered by all of Pearl’s questions and responds, “We must not always talk in the market-place of what happens to us in the forest” (134). At the end of the chapter, a message is delivered to Hester by Pearl from the ship’s captain that Chillingworth has made arrangements for Dimmesdale and that she should only worry about herself and Pearl. As she looks around, Hester realizes that everyone, even those who don’t know her, are staring at her. The scarlet letter sears her breast at that moment more painfully than the

Their graves being marked with only an A also symbolizes how Hester was only known for her scarlet letter, it became who she was. I really enjoyed the novel and overall thought it was engaging and suspenseful. Hawthorne is able to make readers sympathize with characters and relate to them. The themes portrayed in this novel are still relevant today, such as the pressure of society and the consequences of your actions. People today are still expected to fit into societal norms and are punished if they don’t. Like Hester and Dimmesdale, everyone makes mistakes and has to deal with the results of those mistakes. Although not to the same extent, the themes in The Scarlet Letter are still suited to