The Scarlet Letter- Robert Chillingworth

Sin, vengeance, evil, and redemption are all words one can associate when thinking about The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The character who takes the truest form of these negative words is Roger Chillingworth. Hester Prynne had married Chillingworth in England, however left her for many years. During those years, Chillingworth spent time with Indians learning their ways while Hester had an ill legitimate child with a beloved priest named Arthur Dimmesdale. When Hester Prynne begins her lifetime of public shame and guilt, Chillingworth makes his timely return and devotes his life to emotionally torturing Arthur Dimmsedale. Through his many years of vindictive vengeance, the reader sees his abundant physical traits, in depth visual symbols, and his theoretical view on transcendentalism that reveal his true personality. Roger Chillingworth’s physical appearance serves as a very important tool in revealing his internal evil and sin. His first and most evident physical description is revealed through the quote, “…it was sufficiently evident to Hester Prynne that one of this man’s shoulders rose higher than the other.” (Hawthorne, 42) Here, his physical deformity serves as a mirror to the internal deformity of his soul. This quote quickly reveals to the reader that Chillingworth’s soul and mind are distorted just like his body. A second trait that captures the essence of Chillingworth is his piercing eyes, “Yet those same bleared optics had a strange, penetrating power, when it was their power’s purpose to see into the human soul.” (Hawthorne, 41) Chillingworth’s eyes show his one, clear purpose throughout this novel, to disrupt and exploit the human soul. His eyes not only symbolize his power to emotionally invade a heart, but also represent the devil inside of him. The evil spark that lights within his soul is shown through his flaming red eyes, “Ever and anon, too, there came a glare of red light out of his eyes; as if the old man’s soul were on