Roger Chillingworth Character Traits

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).

Dimmsdales sins affects his physical well-being, and his mental stability. Since he never publicly admits his sin, he has to keep his sins bottled up within him. He has no way to relieve himself of the burden of his sins, but to be shamed in public. He ultimately becomes a coward and he tortures himself . He was healthy before, but as the years go by, he becomes sickly, and he worsens his condition by abusing himself. Later on through the years, when he joins with Hester and Pearl in the forest , he becomes different, and when they decide what their plans will be, his health changes, and his energy seems as I it was back. He changes and transforms to another person. "The minister's own will, and Hester's will, and the fate that grew between them, had wrought this transformation. It was the same town as heretofore; but the same minister returned not from the forest." He changed to a new him.

Knowing Roger Chillingworth's background, his role in the book as a symbol, and his obsession of torturing

The man we know as Roger Chillingworth was living his life happily with his wife Hester Prynne, they soon stumbled upon the idea of moving to the “New World” and becoming settlers there. This idea is what sets the two into the spiral of backlash that leads into the deforming of Chillingworth’s caring nature into that of sadism and disdain for one singular

When he meets his wife again when he returned from his trip he sees that she has a scarlet letter A pinned onto her clothes, and instead of taking any action against her specifically he decides to let her live the rest of her life in this misery. Chillingworth does not leave without first swearing to Hester that he will find the man who she committed her sin with, and to make his life

"Hester looked at the man of skill, and even then, with her fate hanging on the balance, was startled to perceive what a change had come over his features, --how much uglier they were, --how his dark complexion seemed to have grown duskier, and his figure more misshapen..." (Pg.103).  Hester is not the only person to notice the change in Chillingworth; many of the townspeople recognize the changes in him as well, "At first his expression had been calm, meditative, scholar-like. Now there was something ugly and evil in his face, which they had not previously noticed, and which still grew more obvious to sight the oftener they looked upon him" (Pg. 117). Slowly but surely Roger Chillingworth is changing from a man with normal interests, to a man with an evil obsession; every day he is getting closer and closer to the dark side.

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

But Hester turns her back on these escape routes.  She stays in the settlement, shackled, as if by an iron chain of guilt, to the scene of her crime and punishment.  As Hester stands on the scaffold, thinking of her husband, he appears before her startled eyes at the edge of the crowd.  And his first gesture is indicative of the man.  Whatever shock or dismay he may feel at seeing his wife on the scaffold he immediately supresses his emotions and makes his face the image of calm.  The glance he bends on Hester is keen and penetrative.  Here is someone used to observing life rather than participating in it.  His is a "furrowed visage" (43).  Chillingworth looks like a man who has cultivated his mind at the "expense of another faculties - a perilous enterprise, in Hawthorne's view" (Loring 187).  Where his overbearing intellect will take him, Hawthorne wants us to think that he could be the catalyst for great conflicts later in the novel.  Chillingworth's finger raised to his lips, commanding Hester's silence, begins a pattern of secrecy that is the mainspring of the novel's plot; a secrecy that Hester must maintain in order to protect both her and her husband from the harshness of the Puritans.  Hawthorne's emphasis on the ability of Chillingworth to analyze the human mind and reasoning foreshadows his treatment of Dimmesdale later in the novel.

He,(Dimmesdale), is “a rare case…I must search this matter to the bottom” (Hawthorne, 158). When Chillingworth overheard Dimmesdale having a bad dream, he entered his quarters and “laid his hand upon his bosom, and thrust aside the vestment, that, … had always covered it even from the professional eye” (Hawthorne, 159). What Chillingworth saw there, no one knows, but we know that he saw Dimmesdale’s sin on his chest. “… With a wild look of wonder, joy, and horror … (with) the extravagant gestures with which he threw up his arms towards the ceiling, and stamped his foot upon the floor” (Hawthorne, 159). When Chillingworth becomes the Devil, he is doing many strange things. Chillingworth is keeping himself secluded, and is seen lurking around town in a creepy manner. Roger secluded himself from everyday life to keep his plot for revenge focused. His plot is working too, Dimmesdale’s “… soul shivers … at the sight of the man” (Hawthorne, 240). Chillingworth is also spending a great deal of time in the “forest trees … searching for roots and twigs, for his strange medicines” (Hawthorne, 145). The townspeople even see that Roger Chillingworth is pure evil. When the town first meets Chillingworth, they think he is a kind old doctor that would not harm a soul. “ At first, his expression had been meditative, scholar like” (Hawthorne,

Dimmesdale’s love and agony towards Hester was shown in his physical and mental degeneration, furthermore, his love to Pearl, his daughter, was shown when he was trying to kiss her, but he always got her refusal, and this was the climax of his weakness and deterioration of character. yet, at the end of the novel, Dimmesdale’s health was in it’s worst stages, therefore he had nothing to lose, so he confronts his society and tells them about is adultery crime that he committed with Hester, and after he did that he gives up life, but as a matter of fact his death was not a sad one, for he was relieved from the pain in his heart and also got to kiss his daughter Pearl whom he never got to kiss, hence, at the end of the novel, the latter character musters courage and loses his weakness which was replaced with the powerful character that confronted without fear.

Roger Chillingworth as a few hidden motives that are concealed under his scholarly charm and visible wisdom. He comes to town after receiving news that the town minister, Arthur Dimmesdale, has severe health problems. The townspeople are very troubled as the minister has fallen ill because the center of their daily functioning revolves around their religion. The view Chillingworth’s presence as a blessing. He explains to the townspeople that he wants to move in with the minister to take care of him. Hawthorne describes, “He expressed great alarm at the pastor’s health, but was anxious to attempt the cure” (Hawthorne, 72). As Chillingworth works to help cure the minister of his ailment, he reveals his alternative motive. He wants to reveal more

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

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

Roger Chillingworth's mirror is associated with the harsh realization of what he has become. In the first few chapters, Hester reflects upon her life with Roger Prynne, her former husband, and refers to him as a well-educated, scholarly man. The progression of the story places Chillingworth in an ever dimming light; the reader realizes that he is no better than the devil himself. Chillingworth's true nature is not known to Dimmesdale at this time. Chillingworth does not realize fully the implications of his actions upon himself. Moreover, Chillingworth "lifted his hands with a look of horror, as if beheld some frightening shape" when looking at himself. Prior to the mirror, he had just conveyed to Hester his slow and painful manipulation of Dimmesdale. This realization of his malicious intent makes him all the more bitter. Quite possibly, this realization could have resulted in a change of his character. However, Chillingworth only places additional blame upon  Dimmesdale for his own faults. At this point, it becomes obvious that Chillingworth is traveling down an unyielding path. Chillingworth has always had this evil within him as represented by his slightly offset shoulders in the earlier chapters. As the novel progresses, so does Chillingworth's level of deformity, until he can finally no longer look at himself without feeling pity for that which could have been.

Hawthorne uses dark supernatural elements to characterize Roger Chillingworth. Hester’s affair makes Chillingworth an envious and vengeful man, and his need for revenge turns him into a fiend. Chillingworth’s physical appearance changes for the worst in the course of seven years, “old Roger Chillingworth was a striking evidence of man’s faculty of transforming himself into a devil” (Hawthorne 156). Chillingworth’s appearance changes from a studious and scholarly man to a stooped and deformed creature with red glowing eyes. Pearl observes Chillingworth’s hideous and terrifying features and suspects that he is the Black Man. Not only is Chillingworth’s appearance effected by the supernatural elements of the devil, his demonic character is exposed when he leeches onto Dimmesdale. Chillingworth seems to embrace his demonic identity when Hester condemns him for torturing Dimmesdale and making his life hell. Chillingworth admits to doing so, but refuses to stop because Dimmesdale deserves it. Hawthorne uses the evil supernatural elements of the devil to make Roger Chillingworth a symbol of the Black Man. His reason for doing so provides grave conflict in the lives of Hester, Pearl, and especially Dimmesdale. The comparison of Chillingworth to the devil