A person’s outward appearance often influences the way others perceive their character. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Roger Chillingworth arrives in the colony to find that his wife, Hester, is being punished for extramarital relations. As the storyline continues, Chillingworth acts as the colony’s physician, becoming very close to Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne. Consequently, Chillingworth’s desire for revenge guided his appearance and interactions with Hester Prynne and Dimmesdale, ultimately altering his character.
Roger Chillingworth plays an important role to the plot of the novel The Scarlet Letter. He is more of a symbol rather than a main character throughout the entire novel. This is due to the fact that he represents how all Puritans should act, at least on the surface. While he is becoming part of a community, he is also planting revenge on Hester and her lover. At first his plot was to reveal Hester’s lover, but that plot turned him into something more vile and evil than before.
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.
This aphorism, much like what one could find in a fable, uses sage advice to connect the reader personally with the story. Aphorisms in general, and this in particular, offers universal truth independent of context. Many passages in The Scarlet Letter, set hundreds of years in the past, can be easily related to modern day, but rarely are they directly applicable. The aphorism serves to remind the reader that while Hester Prynne’s story may or may not be true, it is not entirely based in fiction.
Oftentimes, an event that seems and feels negligible can have an immense impact on a person’s psyche and physical actions. A passage from chapter 20 of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne presents this phenomenon through Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. The passage shows Dimmesdale’s change from a weak, broken man to one with boundless energy as well as his change of view on life through symbolism. The change in Dimmesdale is seen immediately after he exits the forest, for he is described as having “unaccustomed physical energy” (Hawthorne, 188).
In the article “Three Orders: Natural, Moral and Symbolic” by Hyatt Howe Waggoner analyzes how three of the main importances of “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne are natural, moral, and symbolic components of the story. “The Scarlet Letter” is a figurative novel that has a lot of comparisons to the natural, moral, and symbolic pieces of the Puritan community. Hawthorne uses several different items to represent natural, moral and symbolic pieces in his novel. Waggoner’s article shows that Chillingworth is closely in relation to the weeds and black flowers in the cemetery, the letter Hester wears around her chest is close in relation to the red rose, and Pearl is exceedingly close in relation to the wild rose bush next to the prison.
Throughout The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne exposes the blindness of the Puritan people through the treatment of Hester, Chillingworth, and Dimmesdale’s external characters. Hester Prynne is labeled as an adulteress and mistreated by society because of their unwillingness to see her true character. Chillingworth, the husband of Hester, leads the town to believe he is an honorable man and skillful doctor, when his true intents root from his vindictive nature Finally, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, Hester’s lover and the father of her baby, acts as the perfect man therefore the town views him as an exemplar model, while he is truly a sinner. In the novel, Hawthorne portrays Hester as a strong, resilient woman, though the members of her community
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
The book, “The Scarlet Letter” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a thoughtful story about a woman named Hester Prynne, who’s married to Rodger Chillingworth, had been living in the new colonies of America while her husband was still in England. Whilst her husband was nowhere near her, she cheated with none other than the new preacher of the town, Arthur Dimmesdale, and a child, Pearl, was conceived from their secret affair. The town, in response, shunned her, and when Chillingworth surprisingly arrived he soon found out who the father was and sought to destroy Dimmesdale for not coming forward to the public. Although Chillingworth is depicted as a cold-hearted, revengeful, old man, he also exudes characteristics of protectiveness, compassion
We are all sinners. Although one may try hard not to sin, all humans eventually succumb at some time or another to sin. While people may not able to avoid the fate which awaits them, the power of free will allows people to decide how they will respond to sin. While some may respond with guilt and regret, others may react with a sense of redemption and a renewed sense of responsibility. Nathaniel Hawthorne, an American author during the 19th century witnessed the power of sin to wreak havoc not only to an individual but a whole community.
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Inhyeok (Daniel) Lee Mr. Soldi CP English III October 17, 2014 Bloodthirsty Revenge portrayed through Roger Chillingworth In his novel Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes several allegories throughout the story. Allegory is a literary technique that Hawthorne uses to connect the characters with symbolic presences. It gradually builds up the tension between characters, and also arouses curiosity of readers.
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.
Hester Prynne, who is the main character in the novel, committed adultery against her husband, Roger Chillingworth, while she believed he was lost at sea. Roger returns to town, and makes it his goal to get revenge on Arthur Dimmesdale, the father of baby Pearl. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Roger Chillingworth to express the idea that people view other and themselves in many different ways. Hawthorne uses Roger Chillingworth to show determination and forgiveness in the novel. When Chillingworth is talking to Hester about the father of her baby, he states, “I shall seek this man, as I have sought sought truth in books; as I have sought gold in alchemy”(Hawthorne 70).
The Scarlet Letter Essay Roger Chillingworth and Arthur Dimmesdale were two of the main sinners in The Scarlet Letter. Both characters kept their sins secrete throughout the story. These sins included adultery, revenge, and even murder. Out of the two sinners, Chillingworth was the worst, because he never felt guilt for the terrible things he was doing. Dimmesdale spent his entire life in guilt and remorse for the sins he had committed (“Who”).
