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Rhetorical Techniques In Scarlet Letter

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In his novel “The Scarlett Letter” (1850), author Nathaniel Hawthorne reflects on the beauty and compassion of Hester and the ugliness and heartlessness of Chillingworth. Hawthorne supports his claim by describing the beauty of Hester and her strong, honest, and hard-working self, and the old, weathered, and cruel man of Chillingworth. His purpose for writing the novel is to showcase the hypocrisy of a Puritan community, who are quick to judge people for their sins but often commit the same sins themselves. Hawthorne writes with a sympathetic tone towards Hester for what she has to go through, being judged, and seen as an outcast. While he uses a more critical tone towards Chillingworth and the Puritan community for their hypocrisy and judgement …show more content…

Hawthorne’s attitude towards Chillingworth is very critical as Chillingworth is portrayed as a cruel, withered, old man whose own desire for vengeance turns him into an even uglier person inside and out. He is first portrayed as a scholarly man and somewhat kind. Although his pursuit of knowledge does tend to take him away from his wife and their relationship. This often left Hester feeling very alone. Hawthorne wasn’t fond of Chillingworth at this time, although he wasn’t as critical of him as he soon would be. Chillingworth endured many trials on his way to join his wife in America. The hardest of which was being held captive by Indians. Each of these trials slowly took a toll on him. He turned more cynical and negative. Then when he finally arrived in Boston, there stood his wife on the gallows holding a baby that most certainly wasn’t his. He only wanted one thing once he found out the truth, vengeance on the man with whom she had the affair. Hawthorne’s attitude toward Chillingworth became very critical now, as Chillingworth was only focused on vengeance. Hawthorne sees him as a cold-hearted man, with every day passing he turns darker and darker. Once his vengeance is within his reach, Chillingworth realizes that he has nothing left. Vengeance had become his identity. He didn’t know who, or what, he was without. leading to his downfall. Hawthorne’s attitude toward Chillingworth is negative as vengeance completely consumes the old man. Hawthorne described Chillingworth’s appearance as old, weathered, and nothing like his beautiful wife. Leaning more into the fact that he was ugly inside and out. Hawthorne’s attitude toward Chillingworth reflects the reader’s attitude toward him, making them feel critical of

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Chillingworth’s appearance changes as he focuses more and more on avenging Dimmesdale’s actions. When Chillingworth first entered the Puritan community, he was “small in stature, with a furrowed visage” (Hawthorne,

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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

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Throughout the novel, Chillingworth’s ugly look is combined with his altruistic, as well as revenge-seeking and malicious nature. Chillingworth’s ugliness is described to be “—a deformed old figure, with a face that haunted men’s memories longer than they liked” (166), and his contradictory behaviours are revealed when the author writes: 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

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In Hawthorne 's mind, Chillingworth is “haunted either by Satan himself or Satan’s emissary.”

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He went into the town to see someone he knew very well up on a scaffold showing her sinful mistake to everyone who could see. The woman on the Scaffold was not only someone Chillingworth knows but his wife, Hester Prynn. Though she was on the scaffold she was not alone, in her arms lay a small baby, Hester's baby. A pain ran through Chillingworth's mind, or maybe is wasn't pain it was anger. Hester did not see the baby as bad news, Chillingworth did force her into marriage and left her for 2 years in a new town, Hester is a very attractive girl and because Roger was so old and gone for so long everyone assumed he had perished.

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Other examples of Chillingworth's villainous acts consist of his hidden identity, his guilt trip use towards Hester, and overall his relentless pursuit for revenge. In the actions taken by Chillingworth he swayed the outcome of the novel. Chillingworth is the long lost husband of Hester Prynne. Hester's affair during his time away, forced him to make a secret identity. Chillingworth's identity affects the way a lot of things happen in the novel.

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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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Desperate for vengeance, Chillingworth “strove to go deep into his patient's bosom, delving among his principles, prying into his recollections, and probing everything with a cautious touch, like a treasure-seeker in a dark cavern. (112-113).” To achieve this, Chillingworth lies about his identity as Hester’s husband, temporarily disregards his fortune and name, gives up his entire life, just so he can live with the object of his obsession, Dimmesdale. As previously mentioned, Chillingworth was so deep-rooted in his vengeance that the devil himself had a grip on his soul. In addition to stating this, he also shows it.

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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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In the moment he sees her on the scaffold, he chooses to change his name and to never reveal his authentic identity. Instead, he uses the alias of a doctor named ‘Chillingworth’. Though not formally a doctor, his background in alchemy and knowledge of herbal remedies allow him to mislead the Puritans. He takes on the job of caring for the town reverend, Dimmesdale. Eventually, he learns this is the man who impregnated his wife, and Chillingworth begins to seek revenge.

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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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In the romantic novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne portrays Roger Chillingworth as the prime example of pure evil. Chillingworth is characterized as a symbol for evil because Hawthorne illustrates him and his thoughts as being associated with the devil and Hell. Through Hawthorne’s descriptions, Chillingworth’s malevolent ideas and eagerness to expose Hester Prynne and Reverend Dimmesdale are revealed. Consequently, Chillingworth serves as the antagonist in the novel because of his plot to seek vengeance on and torment Dimmesdale. Through the use of figurative language and syntax, Chillingworth’s description and his actions symbolize him as a mysterious and wild evil doing the devil’s bidding.

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Chillingworth is the embodiment of everything wicked. Hawthorne uses anything possible to show him in that light. For example, his chosen name, Chillingworth, paints him from the beginning as an unlovable character. The first time he appears in the book we learn that “one of this man’s shoulders rose higher than the other,” giving him a “slight deformity” (42). With his malicious nature and devilish appearance, Chillingworth very clearly represents the Black Man.

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