Scarlet Letter Revenge Quotes
Danika McGee
16 November 2012
The dish best served cold: Analysis of Roger Chillingworth’s revenge in The Scarlet Letter
It is possible for someone to become so consumed by revenge that his health suffers. He has been wronged by someone and believe in “tit for a tat”, so they choose getting even instead of forgiveness. This may seem like the easiest and fairest way to live life, but it can completely occupy lives and cloud judgment. Roger Chillingworth chose to take revenge on Dimmesdale (for the affair the minister had with his wife) in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter. His need for revenge becomes unnatural and his hatred for Dimmesdale eventually ruins him over the course of several years.
Chillingworth is ashamed of the …show more content…
events that have taken place because he is in love with Hester. It is not Dimmesdale’s fault that he had relations with Hester while she and Chillingworth were married; he didn’t know this. Hester on the other hand was completely aware that she was not supposed to have relations out of wedlock. Dimmesdale is a coward and doesn’t take responsibility for his actions and Chillingworth tries to persuade Hester that “the man lives who has wronged [them] both” (4.20). While Dimmesdale technically did wrong the both of them, the wrong towards Chillingworth was unintentional and he is just too weak to do the right thing with Hester. Chillingworth wants no one to know that he was cheated on because he already believes he isn’t good looking. When Hester wants to confess everything he tells her to not “[tell] any soul that [she] ever call[ed] [him] husband” (4.26). While it would be upsetting for anyone if the whole community knew that their significant other cheated on them, it is worse if they are of a high social class. People know them and rumors will spread faster, so people will begin to look at them differently. Chillingworth loves Hester even though she does not love him. He blames himself for her committing adultery because he “betrayed [her] […] into a false and unnatural relation with [him]” (4.20). This is not a viable reason for someone to cheat, when you marry someone you vow to love and stay with them through everything. Hester fell in love with Dimmesdale while her husband was held captive for over a year and ended up having his child. When Chillingworth comes back he finds out about this and changes his name so as not to be associated with Hester. This could be seen as a cowardly move, but “[his] purpose is to live and die unknown” (4.28). He does not want to face the public scrutiny and have everyone know that he was not good enough for his wife, so he would rather be a different person. No one in the community thinks anything of this new man, they are just happy to have a doctor there. So he is successful in his quest to live and die unknown if he only meant to not be known as Hester’s former husband. He however, needed people to know that he was married to a beautiful woman as a boost to his self-esteem and having no one know was slowly killing him.
Chillingworth makes it apparent that he is a master manipulator and that he has concocted the perfect plan for revenge throughout the novel . He regularly plays with Hester’s mind and Dimmesdale’s soul, while pretending to be a good person. Hester at one point in the story wants people to know that Chillingworth is her husband, but he does not let her tell. He makes her believe that people will pity him and that “[his] finger pointed at [Chillingworth] would have hurled him […] into a dungeon” (14.14). In reality he just does not want people to know that his wife cheated on him with a minister. Ministers are held to a higher standard than normal citizens so his accusation would not have done much unless people believed it. Everyone in the Puritan community believes that the minister can do no wrong and make up excuses every time something questionable happens. Chillingworth helps Dimmesdale, but he also hurts him without the citizens knowing. Hester, however, does know what’s happening in the background, despite this, she also knows she can’t do anything about it. No one has to tell her that “[Chillingworth’s] life would have burned away in torments, within [two years of his crime]” (14.16). Even Dimmesdale cannot dispute the fact that Chillingworth is keeping him alive and he knows that he deserves the torture. He was never punished for the adultery like Hester was, so Chillingworth was sent to give him lifelong punishment. At any point in time Chillingworth could reveal to the puritans that Dimmesdale is the culprit, but he doesn’t. He would rather have him keep suffering in secret than “reveal a goodly secret” (14.16). It is obvious that Dimmesdale can’t handle his own guilt physically or mentally, so there is no need for public punishment. Most importantly he manipulated Hester into marrying him in the first place. She is a tall, young, beautiful woman who is independent and has unwavering beliefs on life. Chillingworth on the other hand is a small, thin, visibly disabled individual. Nevertheless he is a scholar and does have a lot of money so that may have persuaded Hester to marry him. He doesn’t seem like that great of a husband either seeing as how he looked at his books more than he did Hester.
Chillingworth has some possessive traits that contribute to his drawn-out revenge process.
He will stop at nothing to know the name of the man that slept with Hester. She is afraid to tell him that it is Dimmesdale, but her not telling is not hurting Chillingworth because he believes that "[Dimmesdale] is [his]” (4.23). With this statement he is assuring Hester that no matter what is done, he will know the truth. What he originally wanted to do when he found out about Dimmesdale is not certain in the novel. It was not, however, to torture him mentally for seven plus years out of revenge. Something (more than likely a demonic force) pushed him to do something that was “not indeed precisely what he had laid out for himself to tread” (11.1). No matter what he wanted to do, it ruined his own life along with Dimmesdale’s. Chillingworth even begins to look like a demon at one point in the story. When Dimmesdale and Hester are in the forest talking they see him in the dark. It was not a normal sighting, however, “so vivid was the expression[…]that it seemed still to remain painted on the darkness” (12.34). His face could clearly be seen in the dark of the night. The expression hangs there like a bad omen, signifying that Chillingworth will be back for the two of them. Pearl even calls Chillingworth "the black man" and tries to whisk Hester away from him before he "[catches her] like he [caught] the minister" (10.22).Chillingworth knows the extent of his revenge and how inhumane it is, but does not stop it. It is even said to be “blacker than [Dimmesdale and Hester’s] sin” (17.21). He has no control over what he is doing because an inhumane entity is controlling his body and mind. He went from being a well off scholar to an evil man bent on avenging his name, after being hurt by Dimmesdale and Hester. It would be better for “[Dimmesdale] to have died at once” (4.18) rather than continue to live in a world where a possessed man is out to get him. Death is the only way for
Dimmesdale to get away from the torture that Chillingworth imparts upon him. When Dimmesdale does die a large part of Chillingworth dies as well. He believes that all his efforts have failed and that “[Dimmesdale] escaped him”. He dies soon after because he has no reason to continue living without Dimmesdale.
In the end, Chillingworth made the choice to take revenge on Dimmesdale, but became obsessed and created his own demise as well. He became possessed with getting even and seemed to actually be possessed by a demon after a while. Chillingworth is a born manipulator. He manipulated Hester into becoming his wife and not telling anyone about him and the community into believing that he was nothing other than a good doctor. Chillingworth is ashamed of everything that has happened with him and Hester, but he loves her so he does not want to do anything that could hurt her. Chillingworth’s plan was not as successful as he thought it would be as Dimmesdale eventually confessed before his death. After Dimmesdale’s death everyone seemed to move on with their lives except for Chillingworth (who no longer had a life and died about a year later). Had Chillingworth known that “there is no revenge so complete as forgiveness” (Josh Billings) the story would have been drastically different.
16 November 2012
The dish best served cold: Analysis of Roger Chillingworth’s revenge in The Scarlet Letter
It is possible for someone to become so consumed by revenge that his health suffers. He has been wronged by someone and believe in “tit for a tat”, so they choose getting even instead of forgiveness. This may seem like the easiest and fairest way to live life, but it can completely occupy lives and cloud judgment. Roger Chillingworth chose to take revenge on Dimmesdale (for the affair the minister had with his wife) in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter. His need for revenge becomes unnatural and his hatred for Dimmesdale eventually ruins him over the course of several years.
Chillingworth is ashamed of the …show more content…
events that have taken place because he is in love with Hester. It is not Dimmesdale’s fault that he had relations with Hester while she and Chillingworth were married; he didn’t know this. Hester on the other hand was completely aware that she was not supposed to have relations out of wedlock. Dimmesdale is a coward and doesn’t take responsibility for his actions and Chillingworth tries to persuade Hester that “the man lives who has wronged [them] both” (4.20). While Dimmesdale technically did wrong the both of them, the wrong towards Chillingworth was unintentional and he is just too weak to do the right thing with Hester. Chillingworth wants no one to know that he was cheated on because he already believes he isn’t good looking. When Hester wants to confess everything he tells her to not “[tell] any soul that [she] ever call[ed] [him] husband” (4.26). While it would be upsetting for anyone if the whole community knew that their significant other cheated on them, it is worse if they are of a high social class. People know them and rumors will spread faster, so people will begin to look at them differently. Chillingworth loves Hester even though she does not love him. He blames himself for her committing adultery because he “betrayed [her] […] into a false and unnatural relation with [him]” (4.20). This is not a viable reason for someone to cheat, when you marry someone you vow to love and stay with them through everything. Hester fell in love with Dimmesdale while her husband was held captive for over a year and ended up having his child. When Chillingworth comes back he finds out about this and changes his name so as not to be associated with Hester. This could be seen as a cowardly move, but “[his] purpose is to live and die unknown” (4.28). He does not want to face the public scrutiny and have everyone know that he was not good enough for his wife, so he would rather be a different person. No one in the community thinks anything of this new man, they are just happy to have a doctor there. So he is successful in his quest to live and die unknown if he only meant to not be known as Hester’s former husband. He however, needed people to know that he was married to a beautiful woman as a boost to his self-esteem and having no one know was slowly killing him.
Chillingworth makes it apparent that he is a master manipulator and that he has concocted the perfect plan for revenge throughout the novel . He regularly plays with Hester’s mind and Dimmesdale’s soul, while pretending to be a good person. Hester at one point in the story wants people to know that Chillingworth is her husband, but he does not let her tell. He makes her believe that people will pity him and that “[his] finger pointed at [Chillingworth] would have hurled him […] into a dungeon” (14.14). In reality he just does not want people to know that his wife cheated on him with a minister. Ministers are held to a higher standard than normal citizens so his accusation would not have done much unless people believed it. Everyone in the Puritan community believes that the minister can do no wrong and make up excuses every time something questionable happens. Chillingworth helps Dimmesdale, but he also hurts him without the citizens knowing. Hester, however, does know what’s happening in the background, despite this, she also knows she can’t do anything about it. No one has to tell her that “[Chillingworth’s] life would have burned away in torments, within [two years of his crime]” (14.16). Even Dimmesdale cannot dispute the fact that Chillingworth is keeping him alive and he knows that he deserves the torture. He was never punished for the adultery like Hester was, so Chillingworth was sent to give him lifelong punishment. At any point in time Chillingworth could reveal to the puritans that Dimmesdale is the culprit, but he doesn’t. He would rather have him keep suffering in secret than “reveal a goodly secret” (14.16). It is obvious that Dimmesdale can’t handle his own guilt physically or mentally, so there is no need for public punishment. Most importantly he manipulated Hester into marrying him in the first place. She is a tall, young, beautiful woman who is independent and has unwavering beliefs on life. Chillingworth on the other hand is a small, thin, visibly disabled individual. Nevertheless he is a scholar and does have a lot of money so that may have persuaded Hester to marry him. He doesn’t seem like that great of a husband either seeing as how he looked at his books more than he did Hester.
Chillingworth has some possessive traits that contribute to his drawn-out revenge process.
He will stop at nothing to know the name of the man that slept with Hester. She is afraid to tell him that it is Dimmesdale, but her not telling is not hurting Chillingworth because he believes that "[Dimmesdale] is [his]” (4.23). With this statement he is assuring Hester that no matter what is done, he will know the truth. What he originally wanted to do when he found out about Dimmesdale is not certain in the novel. It was not, however, to torture him mentally for seven plus years out of revenge. Something (more than likely a demonic force) pushed him to do something that was “not indeed precisely what he had laid out for himself to tread” (11.1). No matter what he wanted to do, it ruined his own life along with Dimmesdale’s. Chillingworth even begins to look like a demon at one point in the story. When Dimmesdale and Hester are in the forest talking they see him in the dark. It was not a normal sighting, however, “so vivid was the expression[…]that it seemed still to remain painted on the darkness” (12.34). His face could clearly be seen in the dark of the night. The expression hangs there like a bad omen, signifying that Chillingworth will be back for the two of them. Pearl even calls Chillingworth "the black man" and tries to whisk Hester away from him before he "[catches her] like he [caught] the minister" (10.22).Chillingworth knows the extent of his revenge and how inhumane it is, but does not stop it. It is even said to be “blacker than [Dimmesdale and Hester’s] sin” (17.21). He has no control over what he is doing because an inhumane entity is controlling his body and mind. He went from being a well off scholar to an evil man bent on avenging his name, after being hurt by Dimmesdale and Hester. It would be better for “[Dimmesdale] to have died at once” (4.18) rather than continue to live in a world where a possessed man is out to get him. Death is the only way for
Dimmesdale to get away from the torture that Chillingworth imparts upon him. When Dimmesdale does die a large part of Chillingworth dies as well. He believes that all his efforts have failed and that “[Dimmesdale] escaped him”. He dies soon after because he has no reason to continue living without Dimmesdale.
In the end, Chillingworth made the choice to take revenge on Dimmesdale, but became obsessed and created his own demise as well. He became possessed with getting even and seemed to actually be possessed by a demon after a while. Chillingworth is a born manipulator. He manipulated Hester into becoming his wife and not telling anyone about him and the community into believing that he was nothing other than a good doctor. Chillingworth is ashamed of everything that has happened with him and Hester, but he loves her so he does not want to do anything that could hurt her. Chillingworth’s plan was not as successful as he thought it would be as Dimmesdale eventually confessed before his death. After Dimmesdale’s death everyone seemed to move on with their lives except for Chillingworth (who no longer had a life and died about a year later). Had Chillingworth known that “there is no revenge so complete as forgiveness” (Josh Billings) the story would have been drastically different.