In The Scarlet Letter three main sinners are shown to the reader. These sinners are Hester
Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth, they each sin in their own way, each also
has their own way to make themselves feel better about their sins and guilt. At this time sin was a
very important part of daily life, and usually punishment for one’s sins was not universally seen
as a positive thing, but as a necessary action to keep the people of the colony pure. Hester and
Dimmesdale received great deals of punishments for their sin of adultery. However, there is one
character that is portrayed as a true sinner, more than the others. Roger Chillingworth is by far
the greatest sinner in The Scarlet Letter. Chillingworth is considered the greatest
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sinner for his sin was getting revenge. Hester and Dimmesdale sinned too, but their sins hurt themselves more than anyone else. Chillingworth's sins are made apparent by his many attempts to harm Dimmesdale mentally and spiritually, and more importantly, his complete lack of remorse for his actions (Hawthorne). Chillingworth has an absence of guilt for his sin which shows that he is a greater sinner than the rest of the characters in the book. In the novel Chillingworth is Hester Prynne’s husband, this is kept secret from the townspeople through to the end of the book. Upon arriving, he sees his wife up on the scaffold and that is where he vows to take revenge on the man that Hester committed her sin with. Chillingworth's is never hidden, although he chooses to leave Hester to suffer the punishment that has been given to her. He could have easily outed himself as Hester's husband when he sees her up on the scaffold but he chooses not to so that he can find to and take revenge on the man with whom Hester sinned with. When Chillingworth sees Dimmesdale's grief he attaches himself in hopes of finding out who the father of Hester's child is. Once Chillingworth realizes the Dimmesdale is the father of Hester's child, Chillingworth continues to continuously torture Dimmesdale as his own personal revenge and punishment. Chillingworth doesn't have any regret or compassion towards the one that he tortures, he does not recognize his actions as sinful. As the novel goes on Chillingworth takes on an almost evil nature, he has no feelings whatsoever. The only feelings he does have is loathing and hatred for Hester and Dimmesdale. In The Scarlet Letter Chillingworth shows that everybody sins but sometimes one persons sins are worse than another's sins. Throughout The Scarlet Letter Chillingworth shows his sins. Chillingworth is the greatest sinner, because he used his herbs to keep Dimmesdale alive-he prolonged Dimmesdale’s torture, Chillingworth used "black medicine". When Chillingworth came to town with the Indians, and they described as outcasts and dwellers of the forest. Chillingworth had learned all of his tricks with medicines from the Indians. Because of this he was able to prolong Dimmesdale’s torture through using herbs. Chillingworth says, "Don’t think that I will lay a finger on him and interfere with Heaven’s work of punishment...let him live." (Hawthorne). Chillingworth never physically touched Dimmesdale, but kept him healthy using the herbs to make ensure that Dimmesdale would suffer the torture of his affair both mentally and physically. Chillingworth knew what he was doing to Dimmesdale. He said it would have been better if Dimmesdale had died right away rather than enduring seven years worth of vengeance. Chillingworth is admitting to the fact that he has spent the last seven years using his herbs to keep Dimmesdale alive because letting him die would have been too easy. It was described that Chillingworth was giving "black medicine" to Dimmesdale. Using this was a way to punish Dimmesdale for doing him wrong.
The term "black medicine" is used in
correlation with the devil, it is as if Chillingworth was acting as Satan to get back at
Dimmesdale. While talking with Dimmesdale he says, "Wherefore not; since all the powers of
nature call so earnestly for the confession of sin, that these black weeds have sprung up out of a
buried heart, to make manifest an unspoken crime?" (Hawthorne). This is where Chillingworth
expresses his use of the "black medicine". What he is actually using are weeds he found at the
cemetery, and he explains them as if they are herbs that will help Dimmesdale with his sickness.
In The Scarlet Letter Hester could be the greatest sinner. Hester's greatest sin was
committing adultery with Dimmesdale. Hester is the only one who physically takes the blame
and punishment for her sins. "When the young woman--the mother of this child--stood fully
revealed before the crowd, it seemed to be her first impulse to clasp the infant closely to her
bosom; not so much by an impulse of motherly affection, as that she might thereby conceal a
certain token, which was wrought or fastened into her dress." (Hawthorne). Ever since the
beginning of Pearl's existence Hester was forced into wearing the scarlet letter "A" on her
chest to show that she had committed adultery. In conclusion, the greatest sinner in The Scarlet Letter is Roger Chillingworth. Chillingworth is the greatest sinner because he inflicted his sins on other people and not upon himself. He also is the character in the novel that caused and worsened the most pain on any one character in the novel.
Hester Prynne, the protagonist in the book The Scarlet Letter, has committed the sin of adultery, but learned to use that mistake as a form of strength. Hester’s husband, Roger Chillingworth, sent her to America and was supposed to follow her, but never arrived in Boston. While Hester was waiting on Chillingworth, she had an affair with the town minister, Dimmesdale. As a result, Hester gave birth to a beautiful daughter and was forced to wear the scarlet
When asked to describe Roger Chillingworth, peers say he was an upstanding, respectful, concerned citizen. They would have been right, but he didn’t let anyone know just how much he cared. With the loss of Hester, he became filled with anger and jealousy and eventually let his emotions overtake him. At the close of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, the malevolent state of Roger Chillingworth’s heart made him the guiltiest.
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...
Comparing between the sins of Hester Prynne, the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth, the reader can easily establish that Roger Chillingworth committed the greatest sin. He did this by being ruled by hatred and the feeling of vengeance.
Roger Chillingworth himself represents revenge. Some even believe him to be representative of evil or Satan. What is ignored in the cases of interpreting him as Satan or as evil is the fact that he has been cruelly wronged by both Hester and Dimmesdale. Because Hester and Dimmesdale are portrayed as protagonists in the novel, Chillingworth is automatically classified, because of his opposition towards the two, as antagonist. He is not actually this at all when regarded without the negative connotations under which he is crushed within the book.
Every human has sinned but Dimmesdale’s evil deeds led him to live a double life—one as a godly minister and another as the “greatest sinner.” Meanwhile Hester was at trial and being punished for her sin, Dimmesdale showed no sign of guilt and he did not have the valor to stand by her side and take full accountability for his actions. Not only did Dimmesdale fail as a lover, but he also failed as a father by denying Pearl and allowing her to live as an outcast. The townspeople held the minister as a saint but little did they know that he disobeyed the eighth commandment from Exodus 20:16, by hiding the truth from his church Dimmesdale became a liar. Moreover, in chapter twenty Dimmesdale confesses all the evil thoughts that roam in his mind and that his flesh desires to do. He even states how he has used his eloquence to manipulate the youngest female member to attend church. As a result of all the evil deeds, the minister seems to depart from his relationship with God and is confused. Dimmesdale becomes lost and desperate, he habitually questions life and his identity but ironically the famed theologian finds no concrete answers to h...
Throughout the novel, Arthur Dimmesdale constantly struggled to live two different lives. To the public, Arthur was an admired minister. His famous sermons spoke about sin and additionally how egregious committing sin was. Dimmesdale’s community thought he was a brilliant man who would in return never do anything inappropriate. On the inside Dimmesdale was a sinner. After committing adultery with Hester Prynne he attempted to bury the sin inside of him hoping that it would not affect him. His physical and mental health was suffering due to the feeling of guilt. If Dimmesdale would have confessed this sin, his life would not have been so awful and as a result he could have moved on, but then again he did not have enough willpower to admit.
The third main character, Roger Chillingworth, is a pretty innocent man in the beginning of this book. He comes to America to be reunited with his wife, Hester, but soon comes to find out that she has committed adultery.
...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.
Hester Prynne was a young woman living in a Puritan community in the "New World." Her husband, Roger Chillingworth was said to be lost at sea, and Hester assumed his death. Upon this basis, young Hester committed a crime of adultery with her fellow Minister Arthur Dimmesdale. The result of this extra marital affair was the birth of young Pearl, an "elf-like" child. When the townspeople become aware of what Hester has done, they forced her to wear an ultimate sign of punishment, the scarlet letter. This letter "A" for adultery had to be worn on Hester's bosom at all times.
The characters in Hawthornes Novel The Scarlet Letter show three different aspects of sin and how it can change and harm a person's life. Hester is the symbol for Knows sin. Totally opposite of her is Dimsdale who shows Hidden sin. The child and Product of Sin is Pearl. These characters have a powerful message behind each of them that is significant.
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).
The Reverend Dimmesdale was another character that demonstrated the effects of sin. He committed the same offense that Hester committed, adultery. The difference between Dimmesdale and Hester was that Dimmesdale was not publicly punished for his crime while Hester was. Because of this, Dimmesdale felt extremely guilty. This feeling of guilt was so atrocious that it mentally and physically withered Dimmesdale, as he felt a very strong need to repent and cleanse his soul.
The author of The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne, expressed ideas of love, passion, shame, and punishment throughout his 1800s based novel. Due to the fact that this novel was based in a Puritan time period, it brought many mental and sometimes physical difficulties for the main character, Hester Prynne. The Puritans solely believed in God and all of his rules. With that said, the author decided to illustrate the drama of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale’s adultery in order to describe the change in Hester’s attitude. Because of the many events, adversities and struggles, Hester had a complete change in attitude from shame and embarrassment to love, proudness and satisfaction.
Arthur Dimmesdale presented himself as an uncorrupted man by his social status. Inside he felt unworthy and corrupt form the sin he has committed. The town’s people looked up to Dimmesdale as a man who could commit no grand sin. “People say that the Reverend Master Dimmesdale, her godly pastor, takes it very seriously to heart that such a scandal should have come upon his congregation.” (48). Little did they know that the scandal that Dimmesdale took to hear was the fornication that happened between Dimmesdale and adulteress Hester Prynne. His sinful ways was affecting his health greatly. “Some declared, that, if Mr. Dimmesdale were really going to die, it was cause enough, that the world was not worthy to be any longer trodden by his feet.” (106). The town’s people respected him so much so that they figured it was the world that is corrupt and not Dimmesdale.