The Scarlet Letter, authored by nineteenth century romantic Nathaniel Hawthorne, expounds upon the nature of evil. Understanding Roger Chillingworth is crucial to truly comprehending this nature. Chillingworth becomes the proponent of evil after having first been the victim of it at the hands of Arthur Dimmesdale. Compassion is necessary to surpass the ostensible descriptions of Chillingworth, and his motive must be taken into account to fully grasp his character and the evil he represents. Hawthorne’s characterization of Chillingworth reveals how one’s inability to deal with rejection and betrayal can transform good character to evil, facilitated by perversion of intelligence.
Evil is the contorted abuse of intelligence and power, not merely …show more content…
Chillingworth’s character is most accurately portrayed through his own objective point of view and then confirmed by others’. Roger Chillingworth acknowledges that "[t]hough [some] might deem [him] cold”, he was “nevertheless a man thoughtful for others, craving little for himself, -kind, true, just and of constant, if not warm affections” (115). Hester agreed that he was “all this, and more” (115). The catalyst for his drastic change into a fiend was not torture or duress he endured as a prisoner, but the agony he experienced seeing Hester Prynne upon his return. He “beheld the woman, in whom he hoped to find embodied the warmth and cheerfulness of home, set up as a type of sin before the people” (79). His wife had borne an illegitimate child. Chillingworth’s pain from betrayal, loss of family, and hope turned his character sour. Hester had been everything to Chillingworth although she “felt no love, nor feigned any” (50) for him. Chillingworth “drew [her] into [his] heart, into its innermost chamber, and sought to warm [her] by the warmth” (50) which she had created there, alas, to no avail. His desires had “betrayed [Hester’s] budding youth into a false and unnatural relation with [his] decay,” (50) which inevitably led to her place on the scaffold. Seeing her on the scaffold signaled the end to all that he had so deeply desired. If he revealed himself, he would “encounter the dishonor that besmirches the husband of a faithless woman”, not to mention the possibility of Hester being executed (51). He acknowledges that it was he who wronged Hester first, and thus does not hold her fully accountable. “Even if [he] did imagine a scheme of vengeance, what could [he] do better...than to let [her] live,” (49) so that she could bear her burning symbol of shame? Even barring condemning Pearl to a fatherless childhood, Hester and Dimmesdale's act of passion was
Evil is the contorted abuse of intelligence and power, not merely …show more content…
Chillingworth’s character is most accurately portrayed through his own objective point of view and then confirmed by others’. Roger Chillingworth acknowledges that "[t]hough [some] might deem [him] cold”, he was “nevertheless a man thoughtful for others, craving little for himself, -kind, true, just and of constant, if not warm affections” (115). Hester agreed that he was “all this, and more” (115). The catalyst for his drastic change into a fiend was not torture or duress he endured as a prisoner, but the agony he experienced seeing Hester Prynne upon his return. He “beheld the woman, in whom he hoped to find embodied the warmth and cheerfulness of home, set up as a type of sin before the people” (79). His wife had borne an illegitimate child. Chillingworth’s pain from betrayal, loss of family, and hope turned his character sour. Hester had been everything to Chillingworth although she “felt no love, nor feigned any” (50) for him. Chillingworth “drew [her] into [his] heart, into its innermost chamber, and sought to warm [her] by the warmth” (50) which she had created there, alas, to no avail. His desires had “betrayed [Hester’s] budding youth into a false and unnatural relation with [his] decay,” (50) which inevitably led to her place on the scaffold. Seeing her on the scaffold signaled the end to all that he had so deeply desired. If he revealed himself, he would “encounter the dishonor that besmirches the husband of a faithless woman”, not to mention the possibility of Hester being executed (51). He acknowledges that it was he who wronged Hester first, and thus does not hold her fully accountable. “Even if [he] did imagine a scheme of vengeance, what could [he] do better...than to let [her] live,” (49) so that she could bear her burning symbol of shame? Even barring condemning Pearl to a fatherless childhood, Hester and Dimmesdale's act of passion was