roger chillingworth character analysis

1-Hart Emily Hart Mrs. Simons Language Arts 3-4 H July 25, 2013 Roger Chillingworth Character Analysis In the novel, The Scarlet Letter b y Nathaniel Hawthorne, Roger Chillingworth is one of the main characters and is Hester Prynne’s estranged husband. husband. He is consumed by his intent to find out who Hester’s unknown lover is and take revenge on him, and him, and is considered the embodiment of evil. He does develop throughout the story, but not in a good way. First of all, Chillingworth is immediately interested in finding out who had an affair with and fathered Hester’s child. When he first speaks with Hester he says to her, “Breathe not the secret, above all, to the man thou wottest of. Shoudst thou fail me in this, beware! His fame, his  position, his life will be in my hands. Beware!”” (DQ 1, 120) without really knowing it for himself he devotes his life from then on to torture Arthur Dimmesdale, the minister and Pearl’s father and Hester’s lover. (A1) Even after seven years Chillingworth is still curious as to know who the father of Pearl is, “…Would it be beyond a philosopher’s’ research, think ye, gentlemen, to analyze that child’s nature, and, from its make and mould, to give a shrewd guess at the father?”” (180) father?”” (180) at that point in the th e story he is now well acquainted with wi th Dimmesdale and ends up living with him. While they are living together Chillingworth has suspicions that the young minister is the father but it is when he finds ou t that they are correct his true character comes out. Furthermore, there is evidence that suggests that the doctor was miserable, angry, and all together unhappy which can turn a good person evil, as evidenced by, by, “In a word, old Roger Chillingworth was a striking evidence of a man’s faculty o f transforming himself into a Devil, if

 

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he will only, for a reasonable space of time, undertake a Devil’s office, this unhap py person had effected such a transformation by devoting himself, for seven years, to the constant analysis of a heart full of torture, and deriving his enjoyment th ence, and adding fuel to those fiery tortures which he analyzed and gloated over,” (DQ 1, 266) this quote shows just how evil he was turning. turning. Given these points Chillingworth’s character has developed throughout the story but not in the best of ways. As he states on page 270, 270, “But all my life had been made up of earnest, studious, thoughtful, quiet years, bestowed faithfully for that increase of mine o wn knowledge, and faithfully, too, … No life had been more peaceful and innocent innoc ent than mine; few lives so rich with benefits benefits conferred. … Was I not, though you might deem cold, nevertheless a man thoughtful for others, caring little for himself,-kind, true, just, and of constant, if not warm affections? Was I not all this?”” (DQ 1, 270) b y saying this he is stating that befor e coming to the New World and finding out about what happened with Hester he was a fine and good man and was changed afterwards. (A 1) Evidence of how he changed afterwards would be, “Had a man seen old Roger Chillingworth, at that moment of his ecstasy, he would have had no need to ask how Satan comports himself, when a precious human soul is lost to Heaven, and won into his kingdom.” (DQ 2, 216) Chillingworth now finds jo y in other’s pain, suffering and guilt unlike his former self would. This shows just how much he had changed throughout the novel. (A 2) Conclusively, Roger Chillingworth is a cold, unhapp y man, whose life is taken over b y trying to get revenge on Hester’s lover and Pearl’s father as evidenced by the quotes above. His character over the course of the novel really changed and developed.

3-Hart Works Cited Hawthorne, Nathaniel. No Fear The Scarlet Letter . New York: Spark, 2009. Print.