Chillingworth And Dimmesdale's Sins

Sins in society today are not viewed as harshly or compared as they were during the time The Scarlet Letter was written. However, Roger Chillingworth’s sins are worse than Reverend Dimmesdale’s sins because of his motives for sinning, how it affects himself and how it affects others. First of all, the major difference between Chillingworth and Dimmesdale’s sins is their motives for doing so. When Dimmesdale has the affair with Hester, although there was no clear motive for doing so, it might have been because of love. With Chillingworth, he was only torturing Dimmesdale as revenge. Dimmesdale never planned on committing a sin like how Chillingworth deliberately planned on sinning because he had been conjuring in his mind a plan on how to
do so when he first met with Hester. Another reason why Chillingworth’s sin is greater than Dimmesdale’s is because his had a worse effect on those around him. Chillingworth was essentially torturing a man out of revenge. Dimmesdale, although he ruined the relationship between Hester and Chillingworth, only had a positive effect on those around him. He helped many townspeople get saved because he was able to secretly give his testimony to his congregation and save them. Chillingworth’s sin only brought destruction in the lives that surround him. One final reason as to why Chillingworth’s sin is greater than Dimmesdale’s sin is due to the effects their sin caused themselves.