Comparing Evil In Scarlet Letter And Moby Dick

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In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and in Herman Melvilles”s Moby Dick, the main antagonists are Roger Chillinworth and Captain Ahab. Both of these characters act in a way that is portrayed as evil and can be compared because of their similarity. Roger Chillingworth’s actions can be considered evil because of the effect it has on the main characters in The Scarlet Letter. One particular even where he is obviously portrayed as evil is when he tricks the townspeople into thinking he is merely a physician caring for an ill priest, Arthur Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale had recently committed adultery with Chillingworth’s wife and he was looking for revenge. He achieves this “revenge” by pretending to care for the priest but in reality he is clandestinely torturing Dimmesdale and watching him suffer. Evil can be seen in Chillingworth when he obviously makes his revenge on Dimmesdale a life goal. Chillingworth insists that he must stay with him to ensure that Dimmesdale gets better, and Chillingworth staying with the priest would guarantee the relentless torment of Dimmesdale to be nonstop. It is also believed, but not specifically explained, …show more content…

Like Chillingworth, he made his cre believe he was a good person, and not an insane revenge-driven whaler. He persuades his crew to follow him by offering a single doubloon to whoever slays Moby Dick. Also like Chillingworth, he lets his revenge on the white whale overwhelm his entire way of life. He makes his crew swear that hey will slay Moby Dick if it’s the last thing they do, and also makes them drink of the captain’s blood from their harpoons. Ahab’s revenge-driven mission to kill Moby Dick eventually gets him, and the rest of his crew, killed. The fact that Ahab let not only himself but his entire crew to perish only for a grudge held by an insane captain over a white whale shows his evil carelessness for his crew’s