ipl-logo

How Did Poe Respond To Chillingworth's Death

489 Words2 Pages

Chillingworth dies a year after Dimmesdale dies. I believe Poe would advise Chillingworth to focus on his other work and achievements. He was an educated man in a time where few were. Poe would advise him to focus on his education and further the knowledge he had in native medicine (http://www.shmoop.com/scarlet-letter/roger-chillingworth.html). Schmoop.com states that Chillingworth might have an open mind as he studied with and supported Indian native medicine in a time when others did not.
Poe’s life was marked by bad decisions. He left college early because he incurred gambling debts that he couldn’t pay. He attended West Point but went out of his way to be expelled for bad behavior. He attacked others through his pen and damaged his reputation. (http://www.neabigread.org/books/edgarallanpoe/readers-guide/about-the-author). In short he repeatedly made bad decisions in his life. “I have absolutely no pleasure in the stimulants in which I sometimes so madly indulge. It has not been in the pursuit of pleasure that I have periled life and reputation and reason. It has been the desperate attempt to escape from torturing memories, from a sense of insupportable loneliness and a dread of some strange impending doom.” ― (Edgar Allan Poe from goodreads.com/author/quotes/4624490.Edgar_Allan_Poe). Poe was lonely and seemed to …show more content…

When he first can to town and tried to help Dimmesdale the community liked him. Of course, they did not know that his intention was to torment Dimmesdale. After Chillingworth moves in with Dimmesdale his image in the community changed. At first, his expression had been calm, meditative, scholar-like. Now, there was something ugly and evil in his face, which they had not previously noticed . . . it grew to be a wisely diffused opinion, that the Reverend . . . was haunted either by Satan himself, or Satan's emissary, in the guise of old Roger Chillingworth.

Show More
Related

How Does Chillingworth's Character Change Throughout The Scarlet Letter

558 Words | 3 Pages

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).

Read More

Rhetorical Devices Used In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

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

Read More

Character Foils In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

612 Words | 3 Pages

The reader is especially made aware of Dimmesdale's mental state in the eleventh chapter, “His inward trouble drove him to practices more in accordance with the old, corrupted faith of Rome, than with the better light of the church in which he had been born and bred” [150]. This suggests that he is racked with immense guilt and shame at the falsehood he is living and suggests that he is physically abusing himself as a result of this guilt. This directly contradicts Chillingworth's mental state of fury and vengeance that he falls deeper into as the story progresses. These two characters also hold striking incongruities as to what drives them onward as the account

Read More

Scarlet Letter Good Vs Evil Quotes

955 Words | 4 Pages

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” (Hawthorne 95-96) which described how Chillingworth made it his soul’s purpose to bring the worst revenge to Dimmesdale that any man had

Read More

How Did Chillingworth's Change In The Scarlet Letter

700 Words | 3 Pages

After Hester is publicly humiliates with the scarlet symbol, Chillingworth reveals to be “a better physician of [him] than many that claim the medical degree” in the prison (54). His knowledge of medicine helps take care of the baby who was not feeling well as well as Hester Prynne. This evidently shows Chillingworth is a loyal physician when it comes to medical problems. Also, there was that time when Chillingworth and Dimmesdale “came gradually to spend much time together” and eventually became “close friends” (93). Obviously, the truth is Chillingworth did it to find out the truth of Dimmesdale’s secret and later on to ruin him.

Read More

Chillingworth's Form Of Revenge Analysis

146 Words | 1 Pages

Chillingworth’s form of revenge is effective. As a scientific investigator, he cold-heartedly and intellectually pursues his lab specimen, whether it be plants or living, breathing humans. From the beginning, Chillingworth makes it known that “few secrets can escape an investigator, who has opportunity and license to undertake such a quest and skill to follow it up.” Every conversation that takes place between Dimmesdale and the revenge-driven physician reveals another clue to solve Chillingworth’s puzzle. The comments that he makes when talking to Dimmesdale make the priest feel the pain for the sin he committed.

Read More

Chillingworth In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

570 Words | 3 Pages

Following Dimmesdale’s death, “all [of Chillingworth 's] strength and energy… and intellectual force seemed at once to desert him… and almost vanished from mortal sight” (Hawthorne 212), as his own death quickly proceeds within a year. When the source of evil that he leeches off of disappears, Chillingworth’s life begins to disintegrate, as he lacks further purpose to survive due to his loss of humanity. His obsession with obtaining revenge eventually forces him to lose control of his own fate, as it becomes dependent on Dimmesdale’s actions. Since Chillingworth devoted his life to seeking revenge on Dimmesdale, without a mortal target, his existence becomes meaningless. In an effort to assert control and prolong his own life, Chillingworth tries to terminate Dimmesdale’s public confession.

Read More

How Did Chillingworth's Change In The Scarlet Letter

1135 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More

Essay On Good And Evil In Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The Scarlet Letter'

523 Words | 3 Pages

Lastly, Chillingworth 's characteristics started to change and he begun to look like the Black Man. Chillingworth gets so tied up in Dimmesdale that he doesn 't realize that everything is changing about him. In the novel Nathaniel Hawthorne says "But, as he proceeded, a terrible fascination, a kind of fierce, though still calm, necessity, seized the old man within its gripe, and never set him free again, until he had done all its bidding." (Hawthorne ch. 10).

Read More

The Puritan Community In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

945 Words | 4 Pages

Chillingworth has dedicated his entire life to the downfall of Dimmesdale, and this obsession has taken a huge toll on Chillingworth’s health, just as Dimmesdale’s health had also declined. Finally, at the end of the novel, as the reverend finally decides to reveal his shame, and Chillingworth grabs him violently and screams, “Do not blacken your fame and perish in dishonor. I can yet save you. ”(Hawthorne 235). After dedicating the last seven years or his life to torturing the reverend,

Read More

Blindness In The Scarlet Letter

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.

Read More

Roger Chillingworth Character Analysis Essay

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

Read More

Roger Chillingworth Character Traits

403 Words | 2 Pages

In chapter four, Chillingworth characterizes himself as “a man already in decay.” In chapter nine, Hawthorne describes Chilling worth as "a man, elderly, travel-worn, who, just emerging from the perilous wilderness, beheld the woman, in whom he hoped to find embodied the warmth and cheerfulness of home, set up as a type of sin before the people."  Chillingworth holds all of his feelings in and uses them on the journey to identify Hester's lover. Chillingworth is the town's doctor so he is in charge of taking care of Arthur Dimmesdale.

Read More

Guilt In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

1152 Words | 5 Pages

Chillingworth lives in the same town, goes to the same church, and lives in the same house as Dimmesdale, making his friendly regard impossible for Dimmesdale to escape. Chillingworth's

Read More

What Are The Effects Of Sin In The Scarlet Letter

996 Words | 4 Pages

After Dimmesdale dies, Chillingworth no longer has a victim or reason to live and as a result dies shortly after. As the reader you learn that if you choose the path of revenge it will consume your entire life and will have dreadful and long-lasting effects in your life, just like it did with

Read More

More about How Did Poe Respond To Chillingworth's Death

Related Topics

Open Document