How Did Roger Chillingworth Committed The Greatest Sin

Roger Chillingworth’s concealed history and background is most likely the most compelling element of his moral ambiguity. Throughout all of The Scarlet Letter, very little is known about the past of Roger Chillingworth, except that he comes from England and is the husband of Hester Prynne. Even at the very culmination of The Scarlet Letter, very little information regarding Roger Chillingworth’s past is discovered. With an arcane past, Roger Chillingworth is bestowed the ultimate ascendancy of moral ambiguity. One’s past may often act as a deficiency that one’s enemy may utilize at their own personal will. However, with a nebulous past, Roger

In the first interaction between Chillingworth and Hester, Chillingworth is the doctor for both Hester and Pearl. Hester is dubious of Chillingworth's motives for helping them, and with good reason. Chillingworth declares that he is not aiding her out of the goodness of his heart, but rather to make sure that she lives so that he may broadcast her sins throughout the community. "Live, therefore, and bear about thy doom with thee, in the eyes of men and women, - in the eyes /of him whom thou didst call thy husband, - in the eyes of yonder child! And, that thou/ mayest live, take off this draught!" (67) Chillingworth is very angry at Hester, but not because of love for Hester, but rather because Chillingworth feels emasculated by Hester's transgression. As revenge, Chillingworth wishes to strip her of any honor. The reader at this point feels nothing but anger towards Chillingworth at this point. Chillingworth has badgered Hester incessantly in order to ascertain the father of her bastard child. "Speak out the name! That, and thy repentance, may avail to take the scarlet letter off thy breast." (63) Up until this point the reader thinks that Chillingworth is a self-righteous crusader, but when it is finally revealed that Chillingworth is in fact Hester's husband, some sympathy is

As the novel progressed, Chillingworth fits the profile of ‘vengeance destroys the avenger’. When Roger Chillingworth is first introduced to the reader, we see a kind old man, who just has planted the seeds for revenge. Although he did speak of getting his

One of the various ways Chillingworth serves as the devil’s advocate is by being the antithesis of Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, the palpable Jesus figure of the narrative. Chillingworth keenly sets out to devastate Dimmesdale, as Hawthorne informs us when referring to Chillingworth's unearthing of Dimmesdale's secret, “All that guilty sorrow, hidden from the world, whose great heart would have pitied and forgiven, to be revealed to him, the Pitiless, to him, the Unforgiving!” The capitalization of the words "Pitiless" and "Unforgiving" confirm that Chillingworth is Satan in human form. Symbolically, on an additional, more perceptible note, Chillingworth steals one of Dimmesdale's gloves and drops it on the scaffold in the middle of the town. The sexton returns it to Dimmesdale saying, "Satan dropped it there,” evidently pointing to the fact

Roger Chillingworth is the symbol for evil in this novel with a personal agenda in place of a moral code making him the perfect example of how duplicity is never beneficial. Hawthorne conveys Chillingworth’s deception in the quote, “It seemed to be his wish and purpose to mask this expression with a smile.” Time and again Chillingworth hid his true identity by presenting himself as a gentle friend and preforming good deeds. For example, he insisted on the priest minimizing his workload in order to prevent an early death. Nevertheless, when Roger made the decision to seek revenge on his wife’s lover, Arthur Dimmesdale, he descended into a deep evil derangement becoming somewhat of a heartbroken devil. Consequently, this sealed his own tragic fate. "In a word, old Roger Chillingworth was a striking evidence of man's faculty of transforming himself into a devil, if he will only, for a reasonable space of time, undertake a devil's office." Chillingworth was an extremely learned scholar void of compassion who in the end, was the cause of his own demise. Roger Chillingworth was another character used by Hawthorne to show that deceit and dishonesty can do no good in the long

Physically deformed and mysterious, Roger Chillingworth finally met his wife after being separated from her for almost two years.  He showed no great anger towards her and took upon himself some of the accountability saying it was “...my folly and thy weakness,” (Hawthorne 52) which was the cause of Hester's sin.  Chillingworth's only feeling was one of revenge towards the man who had been Hester's lover.  Chillingworth was obsessed by hate and revenge so much that when Dimmesdale died “... the life seemed to have departed...” (Hawthorne 72) from him and he died within a year of Dimmesdale's death.  Chillingworth never felt guilt or attempted repentance because he “... violated, in cold blood, the sanctity of a human heart.” (Hawthorne 133).  He sought to destroy Dimmesdale's

Roger Chillingworth arrives in Salem just in time to see Hester Prynne, his wife, with a baby on the town scaffold. He is, at first, a victim of adultery, but puts himself unnecessarily in the situation of being the villain of the story. The first time we see Chillingworth he is described as having “a remarkable intelligence in his features(56)” but “slightly deformed, with the left shoulder a trifle higher than the right(55)”. As the need for revenge takes over Chillingworth we see a transformation in his demeanor, by the end of

When Chillingworth asks Hester the identity of her lover, she refuses to answer. Because of this, Chillingworth makes her promise never to reveal that he is her husband. After Hester is released from prison, she goes to live in a small cottage at the edge of town. After a few years, people begin to notice that her daughter, Pearl, behaves very strangely, and they threaten to take her away from Hester. Hester takes Pearl to Governor Bellingham's mansion planning to plead for the right to keep her daughter. At the mansion she is met by the governor and his three guests, Reverend Wilson, Reverend Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth. Reverend Dimmesdale convinces the governor to allow Hester to keep Pearl. Chillingworth, who has been living with Reverend Dimmesdale since his arrival in town, begins to suspect that Reverend Dimmesdale is the father of Pearl. One evening while Dimmesdale is sleeping, Chillingworth examines Dimmesdale's chest and finds something which confirms his suspicion. From this moment on, Chillingworth devotes himself to seeking revenge. One night, Dimmesdale is so tormented by his conscience that he goes and stands on the scaffold that Hester had stood on seven years earlier. As he is standing there, he sees Hester and Pearl walk by and he calls them onto the scaffold with him. After he acknowledges his guilt to them, a giant red A

In Chapter 9, Chillingworth 's evil nature starts to show. As Dimmesdale suffers with the guilt of being Pearl 's father, Chillingworth acts as a physician who seems to be taking the life out of Dimmesdale even more. The townspeople are beginning to notice that there is"something ugly and evil starting in his face" (Hawthorne, 124). In chapter 10, this theme of evil continues with Chillingworth, for he continues to get worse. In this chapter, it is clear that Chillingworth 's goal of revenge is to increase Dimmesdale’s inner pain. Hawthorne describes Chillingworth as a "thief entering a chamber where a man lies only half asleep" (Hawthorne, 126) as a way to further symbolize his evilness. Chillingworth harasses Dimmesdale constantly about his secrets asking, "why not reveal them here?" (Hawthorne, 128). But even with all the nagging, Dimmesdale refuses to reveal what 's been making him sick on the inside. In chapter 11, Dimmesdale 's suffering only increases. His sermons hint at his sinful nature, but everyone is being mislead by them for they seem to think that Dimmesdale is even more holy. Dimmesdale is "tortured by some black trouble of the soul"(Hawthorne, 137) and yet, his hidden public confessions are misunderstood. However, Dimmesdale is aware of this, for "the minister well knew- subtle, but remorseful hypocrite- that he was"(Hawthorne, 141). In chapter 12, during the night, Dimmesdale stands on the scaffold, in which it can clearly be seen that

Reverend Dimmesdale is thin and sickly and always clutches at his chest so Chillingworth becomes his hope for getting better. Though Dimmesdale doesn’t believe medicine can heal him, he caves and agrees to let Chillingworth help him. The two men spend time together and Chillingworth believes that he should analyze the reverend spiritually, physically, and mentally in order to cure him. Over time, they think it is a good idea for them ot temporarily move in together, being that Dimmesdale wasn’t married. Some of the townspeople think it is wise but others start thinking Chillingworth has “ugly and evil in his face” and that he has changed. Chillingowrth is dedicated to finding out who committed adultery with Hester. I think this shows shis darker side that he would do anything to reveal whom his wife cheated on him with.

Roger Chillingworth is a vile man who hides his disgrace of having a disloyal wife and finds pleasure in tormenting the poor Arthur Dimmesdale. When he comes to town at the beginning of The Scarlet Letter, Chillingworth makes Hester promise not to tell anyone that he is her real husband.“ ‘Breath not, to any human soul, that thou didst ever call me husband!’…’because I will not encounter the dishonor that besmirches the husband of a faithless woman…’”(Hawthorne 52-53).

While Chillingworth is guilty of breaking the eighth commandment, he also breaks the fifth commandment "You shall not kill" (Gerber 24). It fact that Chillingworth did not directly kill anyone in the novel. Nevertheless, a serious act of anger or hatred is considered a sin under this commandment (Gerber 25). Chillingworth takes up residence with the Reverend Dimmesdale to care for his sickly heart. However, he uses this opportunity to punish the minister. Chillingworth becomes "a chief actor in the poor minister's interior world" (Hawthorne 137). This gives him the ability to make the minister suffer both mental and physical agony. Is the intention to punish another in anger not an act of hatred? Is causing a man to suffer emotionally and physically not a way of killing his spirit? Furthermore, is aggravating a man's illness until it kills him not murder? Chillingworth is guilty of all these offences.

            Later on during the story while Hester and Chillingworth are in the woods talking about Dimmesdale, Hester shouts at Chillingworth, "You search his thoughts. You burrow and rankle in his heart! Your clutch is on his life and you cause him to die daily a living death!" (Pg. 156) Hester knows Chillingworth has more evil in his blood than ever before in his life; he feeds off the pain he causes Dimmesdale and enjoys every minute of it. Chillingworth doesn't realize in the slightest how much more evil flows through his veins now, than did before in his life. It

Roger Chillingworth and Arthur Dimmesdale appear very similar in how they act, how their actions influence them, and how they respond to these actions. They both untruthfully seem like honorable men to the townspeople, and act as if they truly do conduct themselves in this way. By behaving like this, they delve further into sin and suffering; however, instead of divulging who they really are, they both continue making these mistakes of dishonesty. For example, when Chillingworth comprehends that Dimmesdale is the father of Pearl, he decides to take revenge, but this choice causes “a terrible fascination, a kind of fierce, though still calm, necessity [to seize] the old man” (Hawthorne, 120). Dimmesdale, too, suffers from deteriorating health

Chillingworth is not a very amiable character to the reader , but on the other hand he is a very shrewd and sharp person, with a