Old Roger Chillingworth had always been an upright (1) man. He had begun his investigation with a judge’s integrity (2), desiring only the truth. But, as he proceeded, his eyes grew ominous (3). He transformed into a thief. Entering a chamber where a man lies, half-asleep, he aimed to steal the man’s treasure. But the floor would creak, Mr. Dimmesdale aware of a disturbance. Yet Roger Chillingworth-intuitive (4) and perceptive-would be prepared, appearing always as the clergyman’s kind friend. Thus, they maintained a familiar relationship. One day, the clergyman was looking out a window into the graveyard, conversing with the old man who was examining a bundle of plants. “I found these,” Roger Chillingworth answered upon inquiry, “-on …show more content…
Dimmesdale, “-he desired to but could not. The heart must hold certain secrets until that last day; only then will the hearts holding such miserable secrets yield (6) them with joy.” “If with joy, why should they not reveal their secrets here?” “Most do,” said the clergyman, grasping at his breast as if with an importunate (7) throb of pain. “Many have confessed to me, not only on the death–bed, but while strong in life. And, oh, what a relief I witnessed in those sinful brethren (8)!” “Yet some men bury their secrets,” observed the calm physician. “True. But, perhaps guilty as they may be, they shrink (9) from displaying themselves filthy; because thenceforward, they can do no good. Thus, they go about looking pure despite their hearts being stained with iniquity …show more content…
Dimmesdale passionately, suddenly looking fiercely at his companion. “If it be a disease of the soul, there is but one Physician! Who art thou to come between the sufferer and his God?” And with that, he rushed from the room. “See now,” said Roger Chillingworth, with a grave smile, “-how quickly passion takes hold of him! As with one passion, so with another. He hath done a wild thing, this pious (18) Master Dimmesdale, in the hot passion of his heart.” --- It proved not difficult to re–establish the intimacy of the two companions. After a few hours, the young clergyman became sensible that his nerves had hurried him into an unwarranted (19) temper. He marvelled at the violence with which he had thrust back the kind old man, who had merely offered the advice the minister had sought. He lost no time in making apologies and besought his friend to continue his care. Roger Chillingworth readily assented, and went on with his medical supervision. But, he always quitted his patient’s apartment with a mysterious smile. This expression was invisible in Mr. Dimmesdale’s presence, but grew evident as the physician crossed the threshold. Not long after this scene did the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale fall into an unusually deep
...espite of what they thought. Dimmesdale confession would prove him to be a man of humbleness and honesty, a man who ratifies his errors of the past and completes his duty as a minister, father, husband, and son of God. Moreover, Dimmesdale has the ability to set himself free from Chillingworth’s bondage instead of bearing more of Chillingworth’s psychological torture. The temptations the minister faced would give him the strength to overcome his fears and to become a devoted man.
Nathaniel Hawthorne crammed The Scarlet Letter with religious symbolism. One of the most interesting symbols is that of Chillingworth as the devil. All through the novel there are numerous indications and relations that verify the fact that Chillingworth is a delegate for the king of darkness.
Mr. Utterson, the lawyer, was not a man of weak stomach, but even his strength had restrictions. Although he was an individual of strict self-control, he did approve a known patience for others; an ability he had come by due to a singular resurfacing thread that seemed to wind it’s way through his life: he repeatedly had the luck (or misfortune, as one may see it) to be the last good influence in the lives of moribund men.
Arthur Dimmesdale presented himself as an uncorrupted man by his social status. Inside he felt unworthy and corrupt form the sin he has committed. The town’s people looked up to Dimmesdale as a man who could commit no grand sin. “People say that the Reverend Master Dimmesdale, her godly pastor, takes it very seriously to heart that such a scandal should have come upon his congregation.” (48). Little did they know that the scandal that Dimmesdale took to hear was the fornication that happened between Dimmesdale and adulteress Hester Prynne. His sinful ways was affecting his health greatly. “Some declared, that, if Mr. Dimmesdale were really going to die, it was cause enough, that the world was not worthy to be any longer trodden by his feet.” (106). The town’s people respected him so much so that they figured it was the world that is corrupt and not Dimmesdale.
"He is the complete type of man of the world, the social ideal,--courteous, quiet, well informed, imperturbably. Nevertheless, his moral nature is a poisonous and irreclaimable wilderness, in which blooms not a single flower of heavenly parentage." (J. Hawthorne) Over the course of seven years, Roger Chillingworth changes from a calm, scholarly, and kind person to an evil, corrupt, and satanic being.
Hawthorne’s knowledge of psychology is imperative in establishing a connection between Chillingworth and Dimmesdale. Whether it is his theory on the symmetry of love and hate, or his focus on revenge and relief, they contribute to the establishment of a connection between Chillingworth and Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale needs Chillingworth to relieve the weight of his religion, and Chillingworth needs Dimmesdale’s torture and pain to sustain him.
Throughout the novel, readers were exposed to many factors that engage with a physician’s life. Humans value love, respect and honesty in a relationship. No matter the hardships, a relationship is indeed the resource to overcome a conflict. Conflicts may also arise from the relationship itself, however, it does not mean to give up. Perceptions of others change an individual’s decision-making process and in turn may lead that individual down the wrong road. It is evident on a daily basis that relationships often become obstructed as the desires of an individual becomes conflicted with the perception of culture and family views. "Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures" by Vincent Lam displayed to the reader, in-depth, that life has its struggles. Never give up, because giving up will lead to a dead cause.
on thy pedestal of shame, yet better were it so, than to hide a guilty heart through life. What can thy silence do for him , except it tempt him-yea, compel him, as it were-to add hyprocisy to sin? Heaven hath granted thee an open ignominy, that thereby thou mayest work out an open triumph over evil within thee, and the sorrow without. Take heed how thou deniest to him-who perchance, hath not the courage to grasp it for himself - the bitter,
position later in the book. His back is deformed, and one shoulder is higher than the other, giving him a hunchbacked appearance. Chillingworth is not physically attractive and very slender. His eyes have a 'strong, penetrating power,'; (Chpt. 10, p. 157) and he is a loner. 'Old Roger Chillingworth, throughout life, had been calm in temperament, kindly, though not of warm affections, but ever, and in all his relations with the world, a pure and upright man.'; (p. 157, Chpt. 10) He enjoys studying and the pursuit of knowledge.
Dimmesdale is described at the beginning of the book as,”simple and childlike, … with a freshness, and fragrance, and dewy purity of thought, which, as many people said, affected them like the speech of an angel."(#). Dimmesdale is an ordained puritan minister with the voice of an angel, a heart dedicated to serving the lord, and a puritan celebrity. Of course, this is how the public sees him, but deep down inside he is engulfed in his own sin and the psychological torture from Chillingsworth. Unlike Hester, Dimmesdale attempted to give himself the punishment for sin he had partaken in, in private and because of this it was only appropriate that his A was kept on his chest in secret. The longer Dimmesdale waits to confess his sin in public the longer and more severe his self induced sickness gets. Dimmesdale's physical changes in the work reflect his state of being, as it goes from pure to sickly and tainted,”His form grew emaciated; his voice, though still rich and sweet, had a certain melancholy prophecy of decay in it; he was often observed, on any slight alarm or other sudden accident, to put his hand over his heart, with first a flush and then a paleness, indicative of pain”(#). The last moments of his life was the most prominent point in life as he confessed his sin. As soon as he acknowledges his sin and exposes his engraved A, he turns to Pearl and asks,”’Will you kiss me now?’”(#) and she does.
This powerful line from Chillingworth holds three meanings. First, Dimmesdale can save himself only through confession in public. Secondly, it shows the true sin and suffering in Chillingworth himself. In this regard, the line is just as important in reiterating the sickness in Chillingworth as it is in showing the torment in Dimmesdale. Finally, this statement creates a parallel between Chillingworth's idea of justice and the Puritans'.
Obsession and hatred are such corrupt concepts that if one lets it consume them, it can make them inhuman. In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the character Roger Chillingworth is a walking symbol for how allowing revenge to become an obsession can change you into something horrible. As the story progresses, Chillingworth changes into a monster as his need for revenge and hatred grows stronger, causing him to sin by endlessly torturing Dimmesdale. Chillingworth grows into a more menacing person as he becomes a puppet to his own hatred, sin, and obsession.
In the epitaph Dr. Siegfried Iseman, Edgar Lee Masters employments different types of tones, to depict the central idea of a cherishing physician who wants to be supportive to others, courageous and wise. In the text it states, “Somehow the world and the other doctors / Know what’s in your heart as soon as you make / The high-souled resolution”. This quote demonstrates an ambivalent tone on how Masters changes the coexistence of Dr. Iseman having a positive feeling as demonstrated in the quote “I said I will carry the Christian creed / Into the practice of medicine”. To having a negative feeling on how the doctors are envious of his high reputation and want to cause him to have a lower reputation. This is an act on how Masters uses tone to portray his feelings to his readers.
As the novel progressed, Chillingworth fits the profile of ‘vengeance destroys the avenger’. When Roger Chillingworth is first introduced to the reader, we see a kind old man, who just has planted the seeds for revenge. Although he did speak of getting his revenge, when Hester first met her husband in her jail cell, she did not see any evil in him. Because Hester would not tell him who she had slept with, Chillingworth vowed that he would spend the rest of his life having his revenge and that he would eventually suck the soul out of the man, whom she had the affair with. “There is a sympathy that will make me conscious of him. I shall see him tremble. I shall feel myself shudder, suddenly and unawares” (Hawthorne, 101) As the novel develops, Roger Chillingworth has centered himself on Arthur Dimmesdale, but he cannot prove that he is the “one.” Chillingworth has become friends with Dimmesdale, because he has a “strange disease,” that needed to be cured; Chillingworth suspects something and begins to drill Dimmesdale. “… The disorder is a strange one…hath all the operation of this disorder been fairly laid open to me and recounted to me” (Hawthorne, 156).
The townspeople absolutely love Roger Chillingworth. They think him to be an open book, and a good physician who so vigorously cares for the ill Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. The novel does not revolve around Chillingworth, although he has influence to the outcome of the story. Roger kept his sanity somewhat reasonable because even after knowing that Hester cheated on him, he gives her medicine so that she will get better. The only regrets that Roger has are dedicating his life to his studies, and as a result not marrying at an earlier age. Chillingworth admitted that he did not hold a grudge against Hester, because he deserved to get cheated on. She had told him that she did not love him, but he still forced her to marry him. His evil actually helped people, because it was his evil side that wanted to keep Arthur alive to keep torturing him for his sins. In the end when Reverend Dimmesdale was dying on the gallows with Hester and Pearl at his side, he confessed his sin to the entire town. Roger Chillingworth’s purpose for living had died with Dimmsdale, so his body followed a year