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Scarlet Letter Compare And Contrast Roger Chillingworth And Captain Ahib

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In The Scarlet Letter, an American gothic novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne must wear a scarlet “A” on her clothing to represent adultery, the sin in which she has committed. Her partner, Arthur Dimmesdale, remains furtive and unidentified. This engenders Dimmesdale to have a burden of guilt brought upon him. Her husband, Roger Chillingworth, who has been gone for three years, seeks revenge on Dimmesdale. In Moby Dick, another American gothic novel, there is a great deal of revenge seeking. The novel Moby Dick, by Herman Melville, is an epic saga of the voyage of the Pequod, a whaling ship, and its captain, Ahab, who endlessly stalked the great sperm whale, Moby Dick, during a journey around the world. Roger Chillingworth and Captain Ahab both play the part as the heinous character in these two novels.

Roger Chillingworth and Captain Ahab both represent a man who is completely consumed by a revenge scheme. According to Chillingworth, Dimmesdale's act is enough to justify inflicting all sorts of torture on the priest or even killing him. Although it may seem like it, Hester Prynne is not excluded from Chillingworth’s wrath. The cruelty that she receives from the Puritans interestingly matches …show more content…
Chillingworth’s obsession with gaining revenge on Dimmesdale leads to his destruction. Chillingworth portrays as Dimmesdale’s friend and tries to act on his revenge by making Dimmesdale suffer throughout the story. Chillingworth and Dimmesdale even move in together so Chillingworth, who pretends to be a doctor, can get him back to good health. Captain Ahab also has an obsession, similar to Chillingworth. In order to follow and capture Moby Dick, Captain Ahab and his crew have to go off course. Captain Ahab stops at nothing to follow Moby Dick so he can act upon his revenge scheme, which was to kill him. His obsession ends up getting everyone, except Ishmael and Moby Dick,

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