'Chillingworth In The Scarlet Letter'

The Story The Scarlet Letter is a story that is about a woman named Hester who had committed Adultery. She now wears what is known as the Scarlet A. The Scarlet A is worn on her chest for everyone is the town to see, and to know that she is an Adulter. The townspeople found out about her committing adultery because she had a baby named Pearl, but her husband has been gone for a whole two years so it wasn’t to hard to figure it out. The only thing nobody knew was who Pearl's father was. Hester's husband finally came back in disguise so nobody knew who he was and he told Hester he was going to figure out who this guy was. So he did, he had this feeling it was the Reverend named Arthur Dimmesdale. This is who it was, but Chillingworth (Hester's
Husband) did not know this and went on for seven years stalking Dimmesdale. Hester eventually tells Dimmesdale who Chillingworth really is, Dimmesdale finally tells the town that it was him. In this story their are many different relationships that the reader needs to keep a close eye on because the relationships play a big role in how Hester was effected during the story.
Hester and her Husband Chillingworth don’t really have a great relationship, ever since Chillingworth had left her a while back, that had impacted Hester's life quite a bit.
During the whole story Chillingworth is sort of trying to make Hester feel guilty about what she had done with Dimmesdale, but at the beginning of the book when Hester first talks to Chillingworth in the last two years, she asks, “ Why dost thou smile at me?” ( 51). This is when Hester talked to Chillingworth when she was brought around town with her Scarlet A on her chest. She is saying this because Chillingworth is Creeping her out. She thinks he is acting like the devil in a way. When Chillingworth is being like this it is making Hester feel very uncomfortable because she is thinking that she maybe, sold her soul to the devil by doing this with Dimmesdale and having the Scarlet A on her chest. This quote shows how the relationship between Hester and Chillingworth is, and how Chillingworth is treating Hester during the story. He basically tries to make Hester feel guilty about committing adultery. During this whole time, the only person that knows who Chillingworth really is, is Hester. Hester states, "Yes, I hate him! …. He betrayed me! He has done me worse wrong than I did him” (138). This just shows how Chillingworth does not treat Hester in a very good way, and shows how she feels about him. In this quote Hester is talking about how she believes that Chillingworth deserves the punishment and not
herself. She feels he has done more harm to her than she has to him. Chillingworth did leave her for a whole two years, but that doesn’t really give her the right to get with Dimmesdale when she was still with Chillingworth, so they both have done wrong in the story. In the end Chillingworth dies and leaves all of his money to Hester and Pearl, so that is something that Chillingworth had done right to help Hester.
Chillingworth had been gone away from Hester for a couple years. Hester had a baby while he had been away. Hester and the Minister Dimmesdale got together before this and he is the father. Nobody knew this and it was kept secret between the two. This affected Hester very much in the story because this is what gave her the Scarlet A. Hester loves Dimmesdale, he is very good to Hester and gets along with his daughter Pearl very well. Dimmesdale says to Hester, "It is too mighty for me to struggle with!”(Hawthorne 154). Dimmesdale is a good person and feels regret everyday for what he had done to Hester. He feels shame for not coming forward to the townspeople about him being Pearl's father. In a way it is Hester's fault too, because she won’t tell the town who it is either. But even during this they have a pretty good relationship, they still care about each other. Dimmesdale just isn’t good at dealing with Hester sitting in Jail and getting treated poorly by the whole town. Hester said to Dimmesdale, "Thou shalt forgive me!”(Hawthorne 153) .This quote shows how much Hester cares for Dimmesdale and that she needs him. She wants him to forgive her because Chillingworth had been living with Dimmesdale for a while and he finally found out, and Hester had known about it. Chillingworth did many bad things to Dimmesdale. But Dimmesdale finally did forgive Hester. This just shows that they have a very strong relationship and shows that they are good for each other.
Pearl and Hester have an interesting relationship, they don’t always get along and Pearl kind of acts as Hester's letter “A” in real life and this affects her life very much during the story.
When describing Pearl, Hester says, “God gave her into my keeping. … I will not give her up!” (Hawthorne 90). These quotes show that Hester really cares about Pearl and wants to keep her and be a good mother to her. Maybe even have a family with her, Pearl and Dimmesdale. Pearl sort of ruined Hester's life but not in any way was it Pearls fault, but Pearl was the whole reason everyone found out about Hester committing adultery. It is all Hester's fault though, she has nobody to blame except for herself. Pearl is very smart and during the story figures out about her father and her mother. She also figures out what the “A” stands for and what it means. But she also loves her mom. Pearl is a symbol of adultery to Hester because, this is how everyone found out about Hester committing adultery. While Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl were in the woods Pearl asks, "Will he go back with us, hand in hand, we three together, into the town?”(167). This also shows how smart Pearl is, because nobody else knew about Hester and Dimmesdale. This also shows that she wants to be with Hester and Dimmesdale and be happy because Pearl and Dimmesdale gets along very well. Hester and Pearl did have a good relationship in the story and seems to be better towards the end when Dimmesdale comes around
more.
Now that you have read some examples of how the relationships were that Hester had with people, you can see how getting the Scarlet A can affect a person and their relationships with people. Hester was impacted very much by these three people in the story The Scarlet Letter and relationships are a very big part of Hester in the story. Before this all happened she had been very well liked, she made a lot of clothing for many people in the town and just was very well treated and very well liked. But after she was caught being an adulterer everyone didn’t look at her the same. She sewed many wedding dresses, but after that nobody had her do it because they thought by her making their dresses she might course their marriage or something. So her committing adultery affected her relationships with not only Dimmesdale and Pearl but with other people in the town. But in the end Hester is truly a good person she just made that one bad decision with Dimmesdale and it affected her life greatly. In this story their are many different relationships that the reader needs to keep a close eye on because the relationships play a big role in how Hester was effected during the story.