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Chillingsworth Character Traits

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Felix Gomez Stoltz 4A English 11 April 26, 2023 Chillingsworth Character Analysis Every book needs a villain. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel set in Puritan New England, The Scarlet Letter, it is the evil, cold Roger Chillingsworth - a deformed physician dead-set on revenge against the father of his wife’s bastard child. Although adultery is a serious sin and a crime in Puritan society, Chillingsworth sins are exceedingly worse than Hester and Dimmesdale’s. While the lovers consistently mean no harm throughout the book, Chillingsworth is always intent on physical and mental harm. Chillingsworth - cold like his name - is a prime example of psychopathy, as he has zero regards for others and relishes in the suffering of those he dislikes. He …show more content…

Chillingsworth is described as less attractive than a typical man of his time, and certainly less attractive than the gentle, handsome Dimmesdale. He is also a cold and negative person. Due to these traits, there would be plenty reason for him to have a turbulent self-image. Although Chillingsworth does not know who Hester’s new lover is, he assumes that the man is more capable and worthy than himself. Otherwise, why would Hester have chosen him over her husband? He fails to recognize the circumstances of the situation - Hester being left alone in America while he was still in England, and her not knowing if he was even still alive or not - blaming Hester’s disloyalty solely on himself and the other man. He is extremely self-absorbed, believing that his shortcomings were the reason Hester was with another man. He also sees Hester as a prize to be won, an object for him to possess. This is part of the reason why he focuses on uncovering and destroying her lover …show more content…

Hawthorne uses Chillingsworth’s relatively one-dimensional character to display the impact of the individual on society rather than the impact of society on the individual. Chillingsworth seems unaffected by society and its norms, embracing his cruelty and psychopathic tendencies instead of repressing them. His negative effects on the world are more severe than the world’s negative effects on him. Chillingsworth represents pure evil, mainly psychopathy and self-absorption. He is a symbol of hatred and evil, seeking complete destruction of others rather than justice or seeking what is morally right. Hawthorne also uses Chillingsworth to highlight the dichotomy between the two mindsets of “good” and “evil”. While Hester and Dimmesdale never meant to cause harm to anyone in pursuit of their love, Dimmesdale specifically sought it out in pursuit of his

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A person’s outward appearance often influences the way others perceive their character. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Roger Chillingworth arrives in the colony to find that his wife, Hester, is being punished for extramarital relations. As the storyline continues, Chillingworth acts as the colony’s physician, becoming very close to Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne. Consequently, Chillingworth’s desire for revenge guided his appearance and interactions with Hester Prynne and Dimmesdale, ultimately altering his character.

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Roger Chillingworth committed the greater sin in the Scarlet Letter. Chillingworth was a malicious man. After the news that Hester had committed adultery, he became more and more like the “Black Man.” He lied about being a doctor and his identity. Additionally, Chillingworth was the overall cause for Dimmesdale’s death, after seven years of torturing his mind.

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Roger Chillingworth plays an important role to the plot of the novel The Scarlet Letter. He is more of a symbol rather than a main character throughout the entire novel. This is due to the fact that he represents how all Puritans should act, at least on the surface. While he is becoming part of a community, he is also planting revenge on Hester and her lover. At first his plot was to reveal Hester’s lover, but that plot turned him into something more vile and evil than before.

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1091 Words | 5 Pages

Chillingworth is described as having been “calm in temperament, kindly... a pure and upright man” (88), throughout his life. However, while living in the Puritan town, he allows his quest for vengeance to consume him, and “he now [digs] into the poor clergyman’s heart, like a miner searching for gold; or rather, like a sexton [gravedigger] delving into a grave, possibly in quest of a jewel that had been buried on the dead man’s bosom” (88). Chillingworth is determined in his search for retribution, so much in fact

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Izabella DeJohn Michael Edwards April 12, 2023 English 112 The Humiliation of Chillingworth In the opening scene of The Scarlet Letter, where the main character Hester Prynne is forced to stand upon a scaffold in the center of town as an act of humiliation, the character Roger Chillingworth is introduced to the novel when he inquires of a local townsperson who the woman standing upon the scaffold is. Chillingworth, an English physician who had recently escaped the captivity of the Native Americans, was immediately recognized among the crowd of people by Hester Prynne. As Hester’s husband, Chillingworth feared being associated with a woman who had been publicly shamed; thus, he placed his finger on his lips as a gesture to Hester not to expose his identity.

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555 Words | 3 Pages

Mr Chillingworth's unnecessary obsession with revenge takes him to a place that is very hard to get back from. Mr. Chillingworth grows more evil every chapter. His intent on torturing Mr. Dimmesdale causes him to become both physically and psychologically monstruous. “Hester Prynne looked at the man of skill, and even then, with her fate hanging in the balance, was startled to perceive what a change had come over his features,

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978 Words | 4 Pages

Now, in Chapter 12 after dealing with Chillingworth's remarks and hate towards Dimmesdale, he is evidently fed up with his presence. As he, Hester, and Pearl are on the scaffold and Pearl points towards Chillingsworth. He makes this remark toward Hester, “ ‘Who is that man, Hester?’...’I shiver at him! Dost thou know the man? I hate him, Hester!’

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Another statement that Hawthorne makes in this section is that Chillingworth will not find anything except for mortality and corruption, but these were the things that he sought (125). This is giving the reader more insight on Chillingworth and his obsession. Chillingworth’s plan to infiltrate Dimmesdale’s home as his personal caretaker was to search for the truth. The once wise man had transformed once his obsession took control of him. Chillingworth’s

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He moves in with Dimmesdale, and claims he will care for him, but the public cannot see that his intention is to torture Dimmesdale. Hawthorne explains, “The intellect of Roger Chillingworth had now a sufficiently plain path before it. It was not, indeed, precisely that which he had laid out for himself to tread. Calm, gentle, passionless, as he appeared, there was yet, we fear, a quiet depth of malice, hitherto latent, but active now, in this unfortunate old man, which led him to imagine a more intimate revenge than any mortal had ever wreaked upon an enemy” (126). He deliberately chooses to drive Chillingworth into insanity.

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Hawthorne’s immoral imagery depicts Chillingworth as untrustworthy. Later on, symbolism associates Chillingworth as a vicious person that seeks information for his own well-being. “In a word, old Roger Chillingworth was a striking evidence of man’s faculty of transforming himself into a devil, if he will only, for a

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885 Words | 4 Pages

Roger Chillingworth, in effort to dismantle Dimmesdale’s life, has continuously lost social wealth for the seven revengeful years. Most importantly, he put incredible concentration on revenge that he even lost his once-beloved wife. In fact, Chillingworth not only lost the love of Hester, but also gained hatred from Hester. In the end, Roger Chillingworth is worth nothing more than a social outcast who lost true and peaceful relationships with people, and even obtained hatred from his own wife. Through this allegory, Hawthorne teaches his readers that revengeful purpose in life can drive oneself out of the healthy social life.

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1014 Words | 5 Pages

“The Great Gatsby” is a modernist novel written by Francis Scott Fitzgerald. It was published in 1925.It was a time when people needed to recover mentally and economically (Lee, 1997).It is a novel dedicated to Zelda. According to Parkinson (1987), this novel illustrates two themes: 1. The disappointment after the First World War, concerning the society and the function of the state.

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In reality, he is the reason for Dimmesdale’s suffering. Chillingworth’s sin causes him to be so obstinate that he One may ask why Hester, Dimmesdale, or society are not worse sinners. When looking at each party’s sin it is easy to see who is the most corrupt. While Hester is unfaithful and Dimmesdale is culpable of living a lie, they both are able to accept their wrongdoing. The society is not guilty for their actions and beliefs as they are a product of their time.

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670 Words | 3 Pages

Chillingworth is the embodiment of everything wicked. Hawthorne uses anything possible to show him in that light. For example, his chosen name, Chillingworth, paints him from the beginning as an unlovable character. The first time he appears in the book we learn that “one of this man’s shoulders rose higher than the other,” giving him a “slight deformity” (42). With his malicious nature and devilish appearance, Chillingworth very clearly represents the Black Man.

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1325 Words | 6 Pages

The Monstrous and Malicious Man It is human nature to feel the dire urge to act out revenge on the ones who hurt us, but how far is one willing to go to make someone feel the same sufferable pain? Roger Chillingworth, a doctor, a husband, and a revenge seeking monster who was out to destroy someone who indirectly hurt him. Roger Chillingworth, of The Scarlet Letter, becomes obsessed with avenging the sin between his wife, Hester and the town’s well respected minister, Dimmesdale, that he takes on a Devilish form that reveals his true evil intentions. Roger Chillingworth develops into a monstrous character as the novel goes on, but he was not this way until after hearing the news about his estranged wife. Chillingworth’s first appeared at

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