Roger Chillingworth is the evil character in the story The Scarlet Letter. His goal is to harm the man responsible for the scarlet letter on Hester Prynne. Chillingworth obsesses over trying to find the man who had the baby with Prynne. He tracks him down and emotionally tortures him using guilt. Roger Chillingworth drives himself insane from the emotional harm he caused the man. He obsesses over Dimmsdale and torturing him for revenge. Chillingworth wasn’t willing…
People have been trying to put a face to evil for many years. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, does exactly that with the character Roger Chillingworth. Roger Chillingworth is the embodiment of evil. Throughout the story the reader sees embodiment of evil through his thoughts, actions, and appearance. Once this things are taken into account then one will see how Roger Chillingworth is the symbol of pure evil.…
Have you ever hated someone? Do you wish something terrible would happen to that person? That is exactly the feeling you have when reading the Scarlet Letter. Roger Chillingworth is Hester Prynne's husband. He is a physician, but he is not your ordinary friendly doctor. Chillingworth works for "the Black Man" and tortures what we learn later to be Hester's "baby daddy", who is also a minister for the local church, Reverend Dimmesdale. Your hatred doesn't develop after reading the first chapter. Your opinion is formed steadily, and your anger grows more intensely. Chillingworth is the most hated character in the Scarlet Letter because he's blind, has control issues, and is revengeful.…
Each story with an inspirational protagonist must be countered by a sinister antagonist who wants to soil the positive efforts of the hero or heroine. Although some might argue that society would be the only rival to Hester and Dimmesdale, Hawthorne uses his words to prove otherwise, painting the villain Chillingworth as a dark, heinous figure. The first instance of irony that had me beside my self was the doctor Chillinworth’s words to Hester in Chapter 4 “’…as a man who has not thought and philosophized in vain, I seek no vengeance, plot no evil against thee,’”(Hawthorne 70). Chillingworth swears not to be intrusive in Hester’s struggles and presents himself as an innocent bystander in the town of Boston. The verbal deceit here…
In the Scarlet Letter two of the primary characters are provided by the author to show us a kind of foil. The one character, Reverend Dimmesdale, seems as if he is kind, but he has been living with a terrible burden, hindering him everywhere he goes. Chillingworth is his opposite, you would assume him to be nice when really he is quite evil. Dimmesdale and Chillingworth bring out each other's characteristics and bring out the characteristics of other characters around them. Dimmesdale and Chillingworth but heads in every aspect of their lives especially when it comes to Hester, who just so happens to be the only thing they have in common.…
Chillingworth brought trouble to our main protagonist, Hester. A true antagonist is an individual who gets in the path of the protagonist’s goal. He held on to the past for eight years and devoted the rest of life to his revenge. Chillingworth’s idea of justifying the situation was to make the ones who hurt him suffer from what they have done. Basing off of this idea, it creates the perfect scenario for an antagonist to develop. Chillingworth gained antagonistic traits such as being relatable, taking pleasure in other’s miseries, not realizing their wrongdoings, and hiding their own secrets. It is difficult to imagine what Chillingworth felt, he was a scholar who worked hard in gaining knowledge. He felt that all of that work was useless after…
However, as disappointed as he was that Hester committed adultery, he felt more anger against the person who lay down with Hester. This is possibly due to jealousy because the person who did this with Hester was able to get her to love him, while Chillingworth in all his attempts was not able to get her to love him. Chillingworth stated that he plans to find the man, and when he does, he does not want to report him to the authorities. The reason he gives for this is that if he tells on the man who committed adultery with Hester he says it would be, “to mine own loss, betray him to the gripe of human law.” In other words, the betrayer’s consequences would be at the hand of proper authorities, and not in the control of Chillingworth. This shows a very depressing, vengeful future for Chillingworth instead of the positive one that he had been hoping for. It is very plain to see that Chillingworth changes greatly after the finds Hester on the…
"What evil have I done the man?" asked Roger Chillingworth again.”(Hawthorne, 141) Chillingworth has an urge to ruin Hester if it’s the last thing he does. "Hadst thou sought the whole earth over," said he, looking darkly at the clergyman, "there was no one place so secret, —no high place nor lowly place, where thou couldst have escaped me,--save on this very scaffold!"(Hawthorne, 175) Chillingworth does not show the appearance that he is there to take revenge on Hester.…
In Nathaniel Hawthorne's, The Scarlet Letter, he describes the story as a "tale of human frailty and sorrow. This is most likely due to the fact that all the main characters go through some sort of sorrow and hardship throughout the novel. Each is unique in it's own way and has a different effect on the character. Furthermore, each character has his/her own major flaw or sin. Roger Chillingworth, for example, had the flaw of seeking revenge. This completely consumed his life, and as you will soon see, he was unable to live without it. As his name suggests he is devoid of human sentiment. He is referred to as a leech because he feeds on the lives of others in order to accomplish his goals. Ultimately Roger Chillingworth comes to represent true evil. Roger Chillingworth's outlook throughout the story and his actions were very dependant upon his need for revenge. His vow to seek revenge had a negative affect on his life and the lives of others around him. Lastly, his fatal flaw led him to suffer dire consequences at the end of the novel.…
A person may show his corrupted side externally; despite the fact that it is only as a result of his lonely and loving character that he develops this corrupted side of him. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne, Roger Chillingworth, Hester Prynne’s husband, illustrates his conflicting characteristics internally and externally. On the inside, he is sensitive, lonely and loving of Hester. On the outside, he shows the stronger corrupted side of his character through his actions and words. Since he is deeply consumed by his strong love of Hester, his corrupted side becomes even stronger when his love impacts his evil actions. This illustrates how his corrupted nature is more important. Humans use their strong love to do fraudulent actions after being hurt by the one they love.…
An example of this is Dimmesdale telling Hester, "Happy are you, Hester, that wears the scarlet letter openly upon your bosom! Mine burns in secret!"(167) In a labyrinth of delusion, he selfishly ignores the pain and hardships that Hester faces because of her exhortation from society. His hatred and guilty conscience cause him to see Hester, the woman he loves, as the one who is free of the weight of the level of oppression that he experiences daily from the sin they share. He resents the sin to the point that he cannot help but associate the passion he has for Hester with it and then partially blame her. Another example is how Hester, having never “felt… love, nor feigned any” (68) for Roger Chillingworth, is able to clearly see " 'the hatred that has transformed’” (151) the man she agreed to marry, from a “’wise and just man to a fiend'"(151). She never feels love for him in the form of blinding passion , so she is able to see him for who he really is. Although they are bonded together by marriage, there is no real relationship there to blur her logic. Hester is later a victim of distorted views when she is overwhelmed with her "troubled heart" (87) to the point that she questions "whether Pearl was a human child” (83). The emotions that come with sin, exclusion from society, and raising a child alone delude her into thinking that Pearl may be “ an airy sprite" (83). Her daughter, Pearl is the only thing keeping her going at this point and Hester is fully aware that this is in fact her human baby. Influenced by her emotions and Pearl’s challenging demeanor, she cannot even think logically to recognize how unlikely it is that her child is anything other than human. Emotions involved in relationships have a way of making things seem far from what they really are as Hawthorne reveals throughout the…
In the novel the Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne's character Roger Chillingworth is supposed to represent the evil in the story. Hawthorne shows Chillingworth to be evil by several means. The physical description of Chillingworth shows him as an evil character. Statements are also made by Hawthorne referring to the inner content of Chillingworth that would lead the reader to feelings of his evilness. Another good way Hawthorne expresses that Chillingworth is evil is his name. There are many methods Hawthorne uses to demonstrate the evil qualities of Chillingworth.…
He is a man plagued by vengeance. In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne describes how a woman named Hester Prynne fits into a Puritan society after committing an act of adultery and giving birth to another man’s child. Her husband, Roger Chillingworth, develops a bitter coldness and a vindictive obsession that impacts both Hester Prynne and her secret lover.…
Unlike Chillingworth, the other characters of the book experience significant guilt and penance that completely changes who they are. Arthur Dimmesdale, another great sinner, feels considerable guilt and inflicts a course of penance upon himself, even when no one demands it of him. His guilt completely shattered the poor man where "his nerve was absolutely destroyed" and "his moral fierce was abased into more that childish weakness" (Hawthorne, 148). Hester Prynne's guilt also has similar effects as Dimmesdale. "All the light and graceful foliage of her character had been withered up by this red hot brand [scarlet letter]" (Hawthorne, 152) revealing the lasting damage that her penance had inflicted on her. Dimmesdale's and Hester's transformation because of their guilt is immense compared to Chillingworth's tiny or no…
Hawthorne views Roger Chillingworth as psychotic and cold. This is also made immensely clear on several occasions. However, these traits are most emphasized when Hawthorne brings to the audiences attention the "dark complexion" (Ch. 8) that is upon Chillingworth. While acting as a medical supervisor for Dimmesdale, Chillingworth seeks a "more intimate revenge" (Ch. 11) that was colder than any enemy had ever endured. His psychotic ways show when Hawthorne states that [satan himself was in the guise of old Roger Chillingworth] (Ch.9) as he digs through Dimmesdale's heart.…