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How Did Chillingworth's Change In The Scarlet Letter

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The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne contains a number of main characters. The most important would be Hester Prynne, Pearl, Roger Chillingworth, and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. All main characters in the book are unique and different in their own way, the one who is being analyzed today is Roger Chillingworth. In this novel the antagonist is Roger Chillingworth. Chillingworth has a number of things occur to him, which clearly cause him to do things that are not considered good in any way. Chillingworth seeks revenge on the person who Hester got pregnant with, although Chillingworth was not with her while she was in Boston to begin with. It would depend if someone could empathize with someone like Roger Chillingworth. Almost everyone …show more content…

This change is not for the better, it is for the worst. At the beginning of the novel Chillingworth does want revenge, but that is not his sole objective. Nathaniel Hawthorne even wrote that before, “Old Roger Chillingworth throughout life, had been calm in temperament, kindly, though not … a pure and upright man.” As the book advances Chillingworth becomes more and more evil, the revenge starts to consume up to the point where that is the only thing he cares about. Near the end of the book he even goes as far as to go with Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl, to England so he can torture Dimmesdale longer. Although Chillingworth does change, his opinion does not. What changes is how far he will go in order for Dimmesdale to be tortured, for the sole reason that he is Pearl’s father. Since Chillingworth’s ideas he could be considered a static character in the Scarlet Letter. Dimmesdale views Chillingworth’s sin worse than his own. In the Scarlet Letter Hawthorne wrote “That old man’s revenge has been blacker than my sin. He has violated in cold blood the sanctity of the human heart.” Hawthorne believes that it is worse to seek revenge than to have a child out of wedlock and keep it a secret, which is pretty reasonable. Revenge is never good no matter what because although it may be difficult, forgiveness is always an answer. Dimmesdale had a child out of wedlock and kept it a secret. This is not something that is good but it is not as bad as revenge, sometimes it is necessary to keep a secret for the greater

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361 Words | 2 Pages

Dimmesdale and Chillingworth both have secrets that make them look and act differently, their secrets affect their character and how they do their job. Dimmesdale is the father of Pearl but he doesn 't want to face the same humiliation as Hester did for his sins. Because of his secret he self punishes and fasts, he also preaches better than he did before although his health is failing. Chillingworth’s secret is that he was the husband of Hester while he was away, before she cheated on him. Chillingworth gets uglier and uglier driven by the need to get revenge on Pearl’s father.

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558 Words | 3 Pages

Hester wants to reveal the secret, but Chillingworth wants to keep it concealed in order to torture Dimmesdale even more (Hawthorne, 1994, pp. 118-119). This shows the devious aspect of his character. The association between Chillingworth and Hester transitions from a professional to personal relationship as the truth of Chillingworth’s real intentions comes to the

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285 Words | 2 Pages

Chillingworth came to Boston to dig up who impregnated Hester. He seemed to have very little interest in Hester, his main goal was to find out the truth about Pearl’s father. As he does this, he twists the mind of Reverend Dimmesdale and becomes toxic. He becomes obsessed with trying to get vengeance on Dimmesdale for impregnating Hester. As the years go on, even the physical

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618 Words | 3 Pages

Therefore, the role Chillingworth obtains influences the plot of the story more so than other characters. Chillingworth seems to be a nice and genuine person throughout the beginning of the novel. He becomes Dimmesdale’s friend and helps take care of him throughout his illness. However, while he is being this nice person on the outside, on the inside he plots revenge against Dimmesdale and Hester.

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475 Words | 2 Pages

Chillingworth knows that in his search for revenge he is getting closer to the Devil and is incorporating that, and this self reflection only serves to drive him farther into his goal. With Chillingworth interacting with the Devil and doing his work is thus isolated from the baseline society thus having no one to turn to but the Devil and his demons. This is dangerous because Chillingworth knows he has no one and will never give up his goal until it is completed, with the destruction of Hester and

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524 Words | 3 Pages

Chillingworth has caused lots of people trouble and most town’s people wouldn’t forgive him. He was forgiven by Pearl who he gave all his money and belongings to and made her forgive him of what he has done. On page 412 it says that “At old Roger Chillingworth’s decease (which took place within a year), and by his last will and testament, of which governor Bellingham and the reverend Mr. Wilson were executors, he bequeathed a very considerable amount of property, both here in England, to little Pearl the daughter of Hester Prynne.” That shows what was given to Pearl to make her like him. Dimmesdale forgiveness was different.

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910 Words | 4 Pages

(125). Chillingworth was not always a bad man, as he says. Hester’s scandal and betrayal hurt Chillingworth deeply, to the point where he became evil and sought revenge. Chillingworth was humiliated, and Dimmesdale and Hester were the two people that had made him that way, which is why he sought

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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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523 Words | 3 Pages

Dimmesdale changes his views on the repentance of sin throughout the The Scarlet Letter, especially during the beginning, when he is in denial; middle, when Chillingworth makes Dimmesdale turn obsessive of his sin; and end, when

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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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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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645 Words | 3 Pages

Most of the townspeople saw him as a kind and helpful man, and later on some start to draw suspicion and have an unsettling feeling about him. To Dimmsdale, the person Chillingworth has had the most interaction with, Roger is considered practically a best friend to him. Despite the poisonous behaviour towards Dimmesdale, he keeps Chillingworth around but also sees him as a frightening man. Hester Prynne once saw him as an intelligent and admirable man. However, she sees the changes in Chillingworth, and notices how he’s become more evil and very manipulative in chapter 14 when they met in the forest.

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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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436 Words | 2 Pages

Eventually, he comes aware of what he has done and leaves his property to Pearl and Hester. “Nothing was more remarkable than the change which took place, almost immediately after Mr. Dimmesdale’s death, in the appearance and demeanour of the old man known as Roger Chillingworth” (253). It is obvious that Chillingworth develops an understanding of his sins after Dimmesdale’s death which made Chillingworth’s life without a purpose. To conclude, revenge and sin are one of the most disturbing crimes a man can commit; therefore, symbolism, figurative language, and imagery were used to verify the awful character of

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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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