What role does Chillingworth play in the story?

What role does Chillingworth play in the story?

Roger Chillingworth is a fictional character and primary antagonist in the 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. He is an English scholar who moves to the New World after his wife, Hester Prynne. Chillingworth, a doctor and student of alchemy, attempts to emigrate from England to Puritan Boston.

How is Chillingworth characterized in the story?

As his name suggests, Roger Chillingworth is a man deficient in human warmth. His twisted, stooped, deformed shoulders mirror his distorted soul. From what the reader is told of his early years with Hester, he was a difficult husband. Ultimately, Chillingworth represents true evil.

Why is Chillingworth the villain?

Roger Chillingworth is the antagonist of the novel. As Chillingworth explains, “I shall seek this man, as I have sought truth in books.” His motivation seems to be mainly jealousy, because he knows Hester never loved or desired him, and he wants to see what type of man she was attracted to. …

What does Hester’s husband do?

“Roger Chillingworth” is actually Hester’s husband in disguise. He is much older than she is and had sent her to America while he settled his affairs in Europe. He is a scholar and uses his knowledge to disguise himself as a doctor, intent on discovering and tormenting Hester’s anonymous lover.

Why did Hester cheat on Chillingworth?

Ultimately, Hester begins to realize that the act which gave her Pearl could never be wholly evil, as her community claims. She realizes that Dimmesdale is her true husband and that the only time she committed adultery was when she gave herself to Chillingworth, a man she didn’t love.

How does Chillingworth get revenge on Dimmesdale?

In addition to provoking Dimmesdale to contemplate leaving Boston with Hester, Chillingworth exacerbates Dimmesdale’s illness by mentally torturing him, which eventually results in his death.

Why did Chillingworth marry Hester?

In The Scarlet Letter, Chillingworth married Hester because he hoped to find some happiness in married life, and she was young and beautiful. He had lived a pretty lonely and solitary existence for most of his years, and he longed for the happiness that he saw so many others enjoy.

Why is Chillingworth jealous of Dimmesdale?

Chillingworth, or Roger Prynne, enacts psychological warfare on Arthur Dimmesdale because he feels that Dimmesdale has cuckolded him. Chillingworth is jealous of the love that Hester has for Dimmesdale and disgusted that Dimmesdale will not confess that he is Pearl’s father.

What was Hester’s punishment?

The stranger tells him that Hester refuses to reveal her fellow sinner. As punishment, she has been sentenced to three hours on the scaffold and a lifetime of wearing the scarlet letter on her chest.

Does Hester cheat on Chillingworth?

With Dimmesdale, Hester conceives Pearl, the brilliant and beautiful little girl who is the light of Hester’s life. She realizes that Dimmesdale is her true husband and that the only time she committed adultery was when she gave herself to Chillingworth, a man she didn’t love.

Does Chillingworth still love Hester?

Roger Chillingworth married Hester into an unnatural and “pseudo” relationship. He did not love her and she did not love him. He married a wife a generation younger than he. After his discovery, “Chillingworth moves closer to the scaffold and imperiously bids her to name the father of her child” (Martin 113).

What actions does Dimmesdale take to punish himself?

Dimmesdale begins to torture himself physically: he scourges himself with a whip, he fasts, and he holds extended vigils, during which he stays awake throughout the night meditating upon his sin.

What kind of character is Roger Chillingworth?

He desires for vengeance, and accordingly chooses to stay in Boston in spite of his wife’s treachery and disfavor. He is a researcher and uses his insight to mask himself as a specialist, goal on finding and tormenting Hester’s mysterious mate. Chillingworth is self-retained and both physically and mentally massive.

What did Roger Chillingworth say to Hester in Hawthorne?

Eventually when Hester talks with him about whether Dimmesdale’s debt has been paid, Chillingworth says that it would have been better had he died than endure seven years of vengeance. Hawthorne also uses Hester to show what has happened to Chillingworth in isolating himself from humanity.

How did Roger Chillingworth die in the Scarlet Letter?

In the Conclusion, we discover that Chillingworth “positively withered up, shrivelled away.”. Obsession, vengeance, and hatred consumed him, but, despite all this, he leaves his fortune to Pearl, a child of love and passion, the living symbol and personification of the scarlet letter.

How is Roger Chillingworth a symbol of vengeance?

Roger Chillingworth was once kind, then becomes the symbol of vengeance, and finally becomes the personification of vengeance to the extent of losing his humanity. Roger Chillingworth (Prynne), a “kind, but never warm hearted man,” was not always a vengeful and diabolical creature, but once he lusted after the idea of love and kindness.