Roger Chillingworth In Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter

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Recommended: How does nathaniel hawthorne portray the lives of the people in the scarlet letter

Ryan Vo
Mrs. Lanz
Period 0
November 22 2014
The Scarlet Letter
Vengeance--a rotten desire in a “pure” society as the Puritans. A story Hester Prynne and her terrible sin. Nathaniel Hawthorne cryptically portrays Roger Chillingworth as a good man, but gradually unravels the dark truth displaying the aberration of the Puritan society In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s dark and ominous tone provokes readers to view both the positive and negative characteristics of Roger Chillingworth through Hester’s scandal through the use of graceful imagery yet shameful symbolism. Hawthorne’s articulate imagery educes his audience conjure the idea of a cheerless and punitive society. The story instantly begins with Hawthorne, speculating in detail, …show more content…

Chillingworth throughout the half the story portrays a humble and discreet image, though his status skews and falls awry short after the discovery if his true intentions. Hawthorne reveals, “Old Roger Chillingworth, throughout life, had been calm in temperament, kindly, though not of warm affections, but ever, and all his relations with the world, a pure and upright man.” (121). Chapter 10 named The Leech and His Patient implicates Roger Chillingworth to be not the victim, but the perpetrator; Chillingworth being the perpetrator and Dimmesdale as the victim. Soon after the short reminder of Chillingworth’s calm character, Hawthorne immediately creates disagreement with his audience as Dimmesdale questions Chillingworth, “Where, my kind doctor, did you gather those herbs, with such a dark, flabby leaf?” (123) Only to have Chillingworth bite back with, “Even in the graveyard here at hand, they are new to me...They grew out of his heart, and typify, it may be, some hideous secret that was buried with him.” (123) Meaning Dimmesdale, despite being an ordained Puritan minister, holds a deep dark illicit secret willing to die for. Hawthorne’s portrayal of Chillingworth becomes that of Satan, rejoicing to revenge and desire for damnation. The finalization of Chillingworth begins when Hester discovers his true

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