Chillingworth's Use Of Confession In Scarlet Letter

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is a study of the effects of sin on the hearts and minds of the main characters, Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, Roger Chillingworth. Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth. Sin strengthens Hester, humanizes Dimmesdale, and turns Chillingworth into a demon.

The character of Roger Chillingworth in Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter is one of many different faces. Hawthorne changes the character of Chillingworth during different periods of the novel. As Chillingworth's actions and his motives change, so in turn does the reader's opinion of him, which ranges from compassion to antipathy. Hawthorne keeps the character of Chillingworth an enigma, and Hawthorne uses his narrative to shed light on the true feelings of Chillingworth, as well through the good doctor's interaction with other characters, especially Hester, Pearl, and Dimmesdale. As we watch the plot evolve, and the reader observes Chillingworth's actions,

Chillingworth’s desire for revenge for Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter greatly conflicts his moral duty as a self-proclaimed physician in Puritan Boston. This revenge began once Chillingworth suspected Dimmesdale of having intimate relations with Hester, although he never confronted him. Dimmesdale’s physical and mental health began to deteriorate once Chillingworth relentlessly tormented him, conveying the significance behind internal guilt and poor external health. It was also quite ironic how Chillingworth was seen as Dimmesdale’s mentor to the public, and although he was a physician whose friend was in failing health, his credibility was never questioned. This revenge was fueled by the betrayal of Hester, who was Chillingworth’s wife before he claimed a new identity and persona. According to Chillingworth, Dimmesdale could never suffer enough for what he’d done unless he’d faced it publicly, but once he did, Chillingworth had nothing to motivate his devious acts. The repugnant acts committed by Chillingworth claiming to be provoking Dimmesdale’s confession are absolutely influential to his failing health and significance in the book, "Better had he died at once! Never

Both Roger Chillingworth and Arthur Dimmesdale decay internally and externally throughout The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Chillingworth allows revenge to consume his soul, and Dimmesdale is tortured by his hidden guilt. During the novel, a visible change in physical appearance is greatly noticeable, and the characters’ emotional change is even more drastic. Hawthorne uses these characters as an example of the devastating psychological effects of guilt and sin, the novel’s central theme.

Hawthorne develops Dimmesdale’s character to exemplify the destructive power of guilt, which Chillingworth’s vengeful nature furthers. Hawthorne shows both the destruction that guilt causes and the intensity of Chillingworth’s revenge through diction and setting.

Chillingworth’s bitterness, jealousy and guiltiness eventually become a contrived desire for revenge. In particular, his bitterness against his unfaithful wife, his jealousy of her love for someone else and the guiltiness of not being a proficient husband leads to the demise of his character. The revulsion stored deep in the corridors of his heart twist and maul his character that he goes from being an intelligent individual to a grand manipulator. His twisted, deformed shoulders only mirror the twisted deformity that rests

Chillingworth is a man whom at first was a stranger to the town’s people whom later accepted

Furthermore, Hawthorne connects Chillingworth’s actions to a “sexton delving into a grave” because a sexton is usually a gravedigger so it reflects that Chillingworth is doing something that is typical for himself. As Hester and Chillingworth got involved in a heated argument about his malevolent actions towards Dimmesdale, he justifies his evil by remarking ‘“[t]hat he now breathes, and creeps about on earth, is owing all to me!’” (Hawthorne 166). Although Chillingworth did not kill Dimmesdale, the minister would rather die than to listen to Chillingworth’s words that reminded him of the actions that fostered

In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne effectively composes a “tale of human frailty and sorrow” through visions of even the holiest men sinning and depictions of the sorrow of the most revered men on Earth. Hawthorne uses Dimmesdale chiefly as the example for humanity as a whole—the man who is supposed to be overjoyed, because all revere him, and a remarkably holy man, a priest who has ease with words. Principally, Dimmesdale is viewed as a man with an extraordinary life who has everything anyone could every dream of. However, in reality, he is a somber fellow who, because of his sins, is constantly tormented. Due to his past sins, Dimmesdale’s conscience relentlessly agonizes him, with no means of outlet because of his high religious ranking.

However, the audience is never told what clues Chillingworth uncovers. In fact, Chillingworth’s thought processes are never revealed to us. For example, when he catches a glimpse of Dimmesdale’s chest in his house, the audience is not told of what he has seen. Even when Dimmesdale reveals his chest to the Puritan crowd at the end of the novel to confess his secret sin, the audience is still not told of what is on the chest. Interestingly, the crowd holds a variety of accounts on what was on Dimmesdale’s chest.

The many characters in this The Scarlet Letter have learned to forgive throughout the course of these seven years. This includes the town, and the main characters. All of the characters in this novel have had to learn how to forgive one another's sin in one way another. The main focus of their destestation is the sin Hester Prynne committed with Arthur Dimmesdale. The sin of c98uyadultery in this society seems unforgivable at first, but throughout the years we learn the how the society and the people are susceptible to learning different points of view and being sympathetic towards Hester.

Dimmesdale regards Chillingworth, with distrust and even loathing. “...the minister, thought that he had constantly a dim perception of some evil influence watching over him...:,” it can be implicated that Dimmesdale is alluding to Chillingworth as the evil watching over him; This shows that Dimmesdale has started to see Chillingworth to be

Old Mr. Prynne began his new life in the town of Boston as the Physician Roger Chillingworth. The moment he arrived, the town deemed him intelligent and mild mannered; he always seemed pleasant although a little odd. Throughout the seven years he remained in Boston, his character changed so dramatically from admirable to evil that even those who did not know him personally seemed to notice an evil nature deep within his soul trying to break free.

Unlike Hester’s sin of adultery, which she redeemed through charitable and amicable behavior, Chillingworth’s misdeed is one of malice and remains largely unredeemed at the end of The Scarlet Letter. At the beginning of the novel, Chillingworth makes a point of befriending Dimmesdale only so that he may gradually siphon away the minister’s liveliness and vigor, a phenomenon that Hawthorne alludes to by comparing Chillingworth to a blood-sucking leech. As his hatred develops further, Chillingworth “[grows] emaciated, his voice… [becoming] a certain melancholy prophecy of decay” (9). This consequence of Chillingworth’s spite, which haunts him physically so that he becomes a gaunter, more harrowed and wretched version of himself, becomes increasingly

Chillingworth plots vengeance during all of his waking hours. His evilness and corrupt behavior are illustrated in the joy that he finds when his suspicions are confirmed. This happens when he discovers the carved letter A on Dimmesdale's chest one evening while Dimmesdale was resting. “Had a man seen old Roger Chillingworth, at that moment of ecstasy, he would have had no need to ask how Satan comports himself when a precarious human soul is lost to heaven,and won, into his kingdom. But what distinguished the physician’s ecstasy from Satan’s was the trait of wonder in it.” (95). Chillingworth is evil and he embodies the characteristics of the Devil. Even Pearl refers to him as the “black man.”