Scarlet Letter Revenge Quotes

Dimmesdale is a symbol of dishonesty and is a self-centered individual; he knows what he must do in order to make it honorable but lacks the courage and confidence to make himself public. In the Scarlet Letter, Hester tells Dimmesdale that the ship for Europe leaves in four days. He is delighted with the matter of being able to "fulfill his public duties" and give his Election Sermon before leaving. Although from this disdainful act, he worries that the congregation may notice the features found in Pearl’s face may be identical to his

In the 1850’s, America was undergoing a massive internal changes via the industrial revolution. With this new era, American culture was drastically changed as women started to take a more prominent role in American society. In his novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne attempts to stimulate this change by illustrating the positive influence of a strong female character in a Puritanical society through his heroine, Hester Prynne, by putting her in a scandalous situation capable of drawing out the worst in people.

“On one side of the portal, and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rose-bush, covered, in this month of June, with its delicate gems, which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in, and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom, in token that the deep heart of Nature could pity and be kind to him." Chapter 1, pg. 46

With sin comes great consequences. Some are punished, damned, or lose their friends just because they lost themselves. Paying these moral consequences can create feelings of contemptibility and guilt for what they have done. In the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, main characters Arthur Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne commits a terrible sin, uncommon in their puritan community. The moral consequences these characters have to pay are guilt and shame.

Thomas Carlyle, a famous Scottish philosopher known for his poetry, and morality once said, “It is through symbols that man consciously or unconsciously lives, works and has beings.” This quote relates to Pearl in The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne because of her ability to make her own moral choices apart from those of her mother, or the townspeople. Throughout the novel, the letter A, the rose, and nature all symbolize Pearl and her morality. To begin, the letter A is presumably a symbol for Pearl. Pearl is an uncontrollable little girl who has behavioral issues and acts similar to a demon child.

Revenge is the act of retaliating in order to get even with someone for the wrongs they have done. In the novel “The Scarlet Letter,” the author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, uses Roger Chillingworth to reap revenge on Arthur Dimmesdale for his affair with his wife, Hester Prynne. Chillingworth becomes so devoted to revenge that is all his life revolves around. Chillingworth then devotes the rest of his life to taking revenge on Dimmesdale.

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

“Certainly, if the meteor kindled up the sky, and disclosed the earth, with an awfulness that admonished Hester Prynne and the clergyman of the day of judgment, then might Roger Chillingworth have passed with them for the arch-fiend, standing there, with a smile and scowl, to claim his own. So vivid was the expression, or so intense the minister's perception of it, that it seemed still to remain painted on the darkness, after the meteor had vanished, with an effect as if the street and all things else were at once annihilated” (Hawthorne. Chapter 12.) This passage shows the reader the malevolent nature that Chillingworth begins to take on in the novel, seeming almost inhuman in his unwavering hatred for Dimmesdale, and the torture he inflicts upon him. Once again his lack of remorse is expressed plainly for the reader.

Chillingworth will not bear the shame in regards to his unfaithful wife, nor be burdened with supporting and providing for her. He is truly a cruel and twisted man. This unfaithfulness to his wife is not his only shame; he also is responsible for the daily, mental torture of Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale. “She doubted not, that the continual presence of Roger Chillingworth, –the secret poison of his malignity, infecting all the air about him, –and his authorized interference, as a physician, with the minister’s physical and spiritual infirmities, –that these bad opportunities had been turned into a cruel purpose” (Hawthorne132).

Roger Chillingworth’s soul is immediately taken captive by revenge as soon as he finds out about Hester’s infedelity (I would go w infidelity). He is transformed into a devilish figure overcome by a passion to torture Hester’s partner in crime, Arthur Dimmesdale. Hawthorne shows Chillingworth’s evil intentions, “The intellect of Roger Chillingworth had now a sufficiently plain path before it…which led him to imagine a more intimate revenge than any mortal had ever wreaked upon an enemy” (Hawthorne 127). In The Scarlet Letter,

Next we can view the sin of pride in the characters of the Puritan individuals and Roger Chillingsworth. Pride is seen as the internal belief that one’s self is more valuable than others. The Puritans are also quick to pass judgment on Hester who appears to them as having too much pride. When Reverend Dimmesdale tries to appeal to Hester to reveal Pearl’s father’s earthly name. She refuses by saying, "I will not speak! My child must seek a heavenly Father; she shall never know an earthly one! (1206). But quite frankly she is doing the opposite of that, Hester is acting with a great deal of chastity; or self-control to the outside world to the true knowledge of her lustrous act with Arthur Dimmesdale. She spears Dimmesdale of the pain and humiliation she must endure herself.

Pearl is the one in control of the scarlet letter, through the novel. She has a fixation on the letter since she was a baby and carries it through the book, causing there to be no escape from the symbol for her mother. She is also a living representation of the scarlet letter, through her fixation and her physical appearance. She is one of the aspects controlling the stigma of the letter. Pearl is the scarlet letter shown through her fascination, appearance, and control.

Roger Chillingworth presents a fierce will focused on finding the man who participated in an unlawful relationship with his wife. Under the guise of a physician he learns of his wife’s guilt and immediately promises to “...seek this man, as [he has] sought the truth” (Hawthorne 81). This attitude begins as soon as he first finds out about the situation, and only grows stronger through time, until he has completely “devoted himself” to his task of gaining revenge

Roger Chillingworth is the antagonist in Nathaniel Hawthorne's, The Scarlet Letter, because of his vengeance against Hester, his cruel treatment of Arthur Dimmesdale, and his evil behavior upon confirmation of the affair.