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Hester And Chillingworth Symbolism In Scarlet Letter

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“I live in sin, to kill myself I live; no longer my life my own, but sin’s; my good is given to me by heaven, my evil by myself, by my free will, oh which I am deprived” (Michelangelo). This describes Dimmesdale, a pastor and the father of an outcome of sin, Pearl. Pearls’ mother is Hester, the wife of Chillingworth, a man of evil. The characters of Hester, Chillingworth, and Dimmesdale are all connected by sin which alters the course his/her life. Hester is penalized for her act of adultery which leaves her publicly humiliated on the scaffold and forced to wear an A as an act of punishment. In the beginning of the book when Hester is on the scaffold she remains silent. She is thinking about her life before prison and her family. Hester receives hate and does not respond, but instead remains respectful and submissive. She accepts her punishment and does not break. When asked who the father of her child is she responds “I will not speak!” (Hawthorne, page 45) She is determined to stand alone through it all and speaks only on her behalf keeping Dimmesdale’s and Chillingworth’s secrets safe. Hester shows great strength and dignity. Her character is shown by the humiliation she faces everyday but through it all she remains the woman she is strong and humble. Her defiance becomes stronger. Hester shows strength on the scaffold as she …show more content…

Chillingworth disguises himself and works his way into Hester’s and Dimmesdale’s lives. Chillingworth’s actions do not coordinate with his words. He will say one thing but do another. He tries to play it off as this good physician that helps people when in reality he is only there for one thing, revenge. “A mortal man, with once a human heart, has become a fiend for his especial torment!" (Hawthorne) Chillingworth takes a physiological approach to mentally harm Dimmesdale, he didn’t want to kill him; he simply wanted to watch him

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Originally, Chillingworth becomes very close with Dimmesdale. Then, he uses his position as physician to bring guilt upon Dimmesdale. Chillingworth asks him many questions, and Dimmesdale replies with “[why] call in a physician, and then hide the sore” (Hawthorne, 1994, p. 93). He shows a lot of “fierceness” and forcefulness to Dimmesdale in trying to get him to confess his sin with Hester(Hawthorne, 1994, p. 94).

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1091 Words | 5 Pages

When Chillingworth visits Hester in prison, he claims that “his [the adulterer] fame, his position, his life, will be in my hands” (53). Chillingworth makes a vow to Hester that he will find the man who enticed her and will destroy the individual’s life and soul. As the novel progresses, Chillingworth establishes himself as the town doctor and Dimmesdale develops a mysterious illness that perplexes and worries the townspeople. His illnesses leads to Roger Chillingworth becoming his medical advisor, “as not only the disease interested the physician, but he was strongly moved to look into the character and qualities of the patient, these two men...came gradually to spend much time together” (84). Chillingworth takes advantage of the fact that Dimmesdale needs medical attention and establishes himself as a friend, with the intention of finding out personal information about Dimmesdale.

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816 Words | 4 Pages

Within a work of literature there may exists a pair of characters that rely on each other to express their traits in full. They are called foil and Arthur Dimmesdale and Robert Chillingworth are an example of this. Although the story centers around Hester there exists struggle between other individuals. Hawthorne wonderfully alludes to the doctrine of Satan accusing the sinner using these two characters and bring forth a suspenseful conflict. This is also called a juxtapose since they wonderfully contrast showing the extremes of character.

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833 Words | 4 Pages

Chillingsworth works day in and day out making Dimmesdale sick with work that people will find out what he had done. It's so bad that Dimmesdale starts to do self harm. Chillingworth even goes about so that hester knows what she had done was wrong too and he makes her life like she is walking on

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667 Words | 3 Pages

His "treatment" for Dimmesdale’s illness only makes Dimmesdale weaker, which is his ultimate revenge. Since the truth about the sin is concealed, Chillingworth is successful in torturing Dimmesdale. Another symptom of Dimmesdale’s hurt is guilt. He knows the truth, and since society does not punish him, because they do not know the truth, he feels that he needs to punish himself by whipping himself with a "bloody scourge" and fasts "until his knees trembled beneath him" (150). This unknown, physical and self-induced punishment is harsh, but since he is too self-concealed to revel his sin, Dimmesdale accepts

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1140 Words | 5 Pages

Hester’s undeniable ability to overcome hardships is what keeps her stable throughout the events dramatized within the novel. When the author mentions, "[t]hey said that it meant Able; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman's strength," he is allowing the reader to recognize Hester's ability to care for others while ,on the other hand, no one cares for her (Hawthorne 124). Her true ability to conquer troubles without any additional help made the people reconsider their views on Hester. She is belittled and neglected by the Puritan people, but her strength allows her to carry on. With her courage, Hester Prynne learns to accept that her sins are part of her.

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1003 Words | 5 Pages

At first Chillingworth is portrayed through the introduction as a civil man, almost feel sorry for him for the fact that his wife cheated on him, and that she is now imprisoned, Hester even calls him, “the Black Man that haunts the forest round about [the town],”(Hawthorne 94), however, these words foreshadow the dive to insanity Chillingworth later takes after he sets his sights on revenge. Although Chillingworth’s arrival to Massachusetts is not a happy one, the reader can’t feel bad for Chillingworth because during his conversation with Hester, Chillingworth didn’t approach Hester with the intent on being a good husband, but rather as a physician. The lack of love Chillingworth displays to Hester, sheds light onto the how riddled with guilt Chillingworth really is, the mere opposition to comfort her, provides Chillingworth’s first step towards his mental downfall. Some people may argue that Chillingworth never saw a downfall into his own mental state, and that he was passing the punishment that Dimmesdale had deserved. However, the punishments that Dimmesdale was receiving was more torture than anything else, which exemplifies the civility he has lost.

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506 Words | 3 Pages

Hawthorne immediately corrects himself, and says that Chillingworth is more like “a sexton delving into a grave, possibly in quest of a jewel that had been buried on the dead man’s bosom” (125). These comparisons of Chillingworth to a miner and a sexton, and the truth to gold and a jewel emphasizes this obsession that Chillingworth must finding the truth. Chillingworth is “the leech” and he 's by Dimmesdale’s side making him sick. The longer Chillingworth stays with Dimmesdale, the worse Dimmesdale’s condition gets. This is his newfound passion and his persistence won’t allow him to end this hunt for the truth.

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524 Words | 3 Pages

This is significant to the novel’s plot structure as Chillingworth was the main antagonist in the book. His identity being so tightly packed around his desire for revenge affected the sequence of events in the book. It tore Dimmesdale apart eventually leading to his death, and Chillingworth’s death as well, which were two major events in the novel. An important message is conveyed in these events: Your own identity and sense of self has the potential to affect others.

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1270 Words | 6 Pages

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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665 Words | 3 Pages

She is a beautiful, young woman who has sinned, but is forgiven. Hawthorne portrays Hester as "divine maternity" and she can do no wrong. Not only Hester, but also the physical scarlet letter, a sign of shame, is shown as a beautiful, gold and colorful piece which

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1656 Words | 7 Pages

The 1950’s was a time of invention, hard fought war by men and women of our country and some of the most medical step forwards that we have ever had in our history. Not only was it a time for invention and war but also a time were rock and roll hit the ground running. Most people protested that rock and roll was the music of the devil poisoning the minds of our children. With even these people trying to bring that genera down the great legends prospered. Every kid remembers growing up and hearing the words “thank you, thank you very much” at least once in their life, it was words of the great king Elvis Presley.

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466 Words | 2 Pages

Even though she is supposed to be humiliated in front of the town as punishment for her adultery, she smiles proudly and wears her scarlet letter as a badge. In this instance, Hester refuses to accept her punishment thereby nullifying the punishment. If Hester were to be embarrassed on the scaffold, she would give her punishment the power to be a punishment. However, when Hester instead smiles on the scaffold, she shows that she won’t let her sin control her, no matter what the other townspeople think of her. Another example of how Hester denies her punishment is how she designed the scarlet letter.

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550 Words | 3 Pages

Chillingworth shows no restraint in persecuting Dimmesdale to achieve his ends. When he arrives in the town he finds that a man has committed adultery with his wife, which “[leads] him to imagine a more intimate revenge than any mortal had ever wreaked upon an enemy.” From that moment, Chillingworth swears to exact his retribution. He forms a plan which will only satisfy his selfish desire to destroy the man that wronged him.

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936 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout the novel, Hester is fraught by the Puritan society and her suffering is an effect of how evil society is. Hester continues to believe that the crime she committed was not wrong and she should not be punished for it. Her desire to protect and love Dimmesdale, turn her into a stronger person and become a heroine in the book. Although society still views her as a “naughty baggage” (Hawthorne 73) and is punished for her wrongdoing, Hester never thought to take revenge on them, yet she gives everything she has to the unfortunate and leaves herself with very little. She continues to stay positive no matter what society has for her.

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