How Is Chillingworth's Alienation Isolated

Alienation creates a microcosm of society within a single person, and thus the values society views to be good or bad are displayed by an isolated being. Nathaniel Hawthorne shows what society disapproves of through the isolated Roger Chillingworth in The Scarlet Letter. Chillingworth’s differences from the people of Boston isolate him. Out of the respected personality he once had, Chillingworth’s alienation brings out devilish attributes, which the Puritan society frowns upon. Chillingworth emerges as a stranger in the colony, and after seeing Hester displayed as an adulteress, isolates himself. When he has his first conversation with Hester in the jail cell Chillingworth says that he is “a stranger” and was made one “sorely against [his]

Chillingworth began his investigation into Hester’s relationship as “a judge, desirous only of truth,” but as he continued his investigation he gained “a terrible fascination” that would hold him until he solved the mystery (138). His obsession with this case leads him to dedicate all his time into figuring out the truth, thus changing his personality. The Puritans would have believed his desire to seek the truth legitimate, however his terrible fascination with something unholy goes against Puritan values. Along with his personality, Chillingworth’s alienation brings on changes in his physical appearance, and the people who thought he was a gift from Heaven in the beginning begin to see “something ugly and evil in his face” (136). Through this Hawthorne reveals isolation can bring out the worst in even the best of us. Chillingworth’s inability to relate to Boston’s society and his bad intentions change him physically into a devilish creature, which the Puritan society disapproves of. Others begin to notice a change in his personality, for any “spectator could see his blackness” (181). Blackness has always been associated with the dark and unknown. Since the unknown is feared, blackness began to symbolize something to fear and a devilish characteristic, and thus, Hawthorne reveals Bostonians disapproval of Chillingworth’s malicious intentions. Through his alienation Chillingworth became