Up to this point, readers are aware of Chillingworth’s history and his purpose for returning back to New England, but have no indication of how far Roger will go to expose Pearl’s father. From chapters four to eight, Roger is known to the public eye as an expert physician with a mysterious past who had come across the Puritan town and is now treating Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale’s illness. He is a small and thin older man with a rugged face (due to the harsh conditions while being held captive by the Indians) who is a miracle to the people of this town because he is as devoted to religion as he is to his profession. To everybody else aside from Hester, Roger seemed like a gift from the gods. However, his true colors begin to reveal themselves when
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Roger questions if “these black weeds have sprung up out of a buried heart, to make manifest an unspoken an unspoken crime,” (109) to which Dimmesdale replies that the secrets a person holds haunts them until the day when everybody’s secrets are revealed. He also states that on that day, a man will be unutterably joyful to lift that guilt off their chest and will be at peace. Consequently, his conversation only raises Roger’s suspicions about Dimmesdale’s secrecy, making him even more eager to dig into the minister’s past faults. In chapter ten, Pearl and her mother happen to see Dimmesdale and Chillingworth through a window, and likewise the two men acknowledge the mother and daughter. Breaking the silent stares, Pearl shouts, “Come away, mother! Come away, yonder or the Black Man will catch you! He hath got hold of the minister already,” (111). In this scene, Pearl is referring to Chillingworth as the Black Man and she is cautious around him, believing that he will “get” her and Hester. To readers, the Black Man could represent an unholy spirit, an evil being, or even Satan himself, but Hester dismisses Pearl’s comment as child’s …show more content…
The meaning of the scarlet does not change for Hester and although it acts as a heavy weight of depression upon her bosom, she feels as though her outcast self has finally found her place in society. People begin to refer the “A” as meaning “able” rather than “adultery” because of all the obstacles Hester was able to come over in her life, but she still views it as a burden and a constant reminder that although her nature was warm and rich, she will never be viewed as equal to the other citizens. Hester’s thoughts on Chillingworth and Dimmesdale are polar opposites because she believes that she must save the kind and thoughtful minister from Chillingworth’s manipulative and evil scheme to get revenge on Dimmesdale by “rescuing the victim on whom he had so evidently set his gripe” (138). Hester then continues to explain that Chillingworth has tortured Dimmesdale enough at this point and might as well let him die already, while Chillingworth explains that he has no mercy and it needs to be as painful as possible. The author describes Roger’s soul as “a striking evidence of a man’s faculty of transforming himself into a devil, if he will only, for a reasonable space of time, undertake a devil’s office” (140). Hester still questions why Chillingworth
Roger questions if “these black weeds have sprung up out of a buried heart, to make manifest an unspoken an unspoken crime,” (109) to which Dimmesdale replies that the secrets a person holds haunts them until the day when everybody’s secrets are revealed. He also states that on that day, a man will be unutterably joyful to lift that guilt off their chest and will be at peace. Consequently, his conversation only raises Roger’s suspicions about Dimmesdale’s secrecy, making him even more eager to dig into the minister’s past faults. In chapter ten, Pearl and her mother happen to see Dimmesdale and Chillingworth through a window, and likewise the two men acknowledge the mother and daughter. Breaking the silent stares, Pearl shouts, “Come away, mother! Come away, yonder or the Black Man will catch you! He hath got hold of the minister already,” (111). In this scene, Pearl is referring to Chillingworth as the Black Man and she is cautious around him, believing that he will “get” her and Hester. To readers, the Black Man could represent an unholy spirit, an evil being, or even Satan himself, but Hester dismisses Pearl’s comment as child’s …show more content…
The meaning of the scarlet does not change for Hester and although it acts as a heavy weight of depression upon her bosom, she feels as though her outcast self has finally found her place in society. People begin to refer the “A” as meaning “able” rather than “adultery” because of all the obstacles Hester was able to come over in her life, but she still views it as a burden and a constant reminder that although her nature was warm and rich, she will never be viewed as equal to the other citizens. Hester’s thoughts on Chillingworth and Dimmesdale are polar opposites because she believes that she must save the kind and thoughtful minister from Chillingworth’s manipulative and evil scheme to get revenge on Dimmesdale by “rescuing the victim on whom he had so evidently set his gripe” (138). Hester then continues to explain that Chillingworth has tortured Dimmesdale enough at this point and might as well let him die already, while Chillingworth explains that he has no mercy and it needs to be as painful as possible. The author describes Roger’s soul as “a striking evidence of a man’s faculty of transforming himself into a devil, if he will only, for a reasonable space of time, undertake a devil’s office” (140). Hester still questions why Chillingworth