Where is chillingworth described in the scarlet letter

Hester decides to ask Chillingworth to stop tormenting Dimmesdale. When she and Pearl encounter him on a beach near the Hester notices that Chillingworth has changed. He's now a wretched, vengeful old man.

Chillingworth also notes the change, remembering Hester tells Chillingworth he holds Dimmesdale's life in his hands. Chillingworth says he saved Dimmesdale's life by not Chillingworth admits that he's become a "fiend.

Hester agrees, pleading Hester says she must tell Dimmesdale about Chillingworth. He responds that their fate, a "black flower," is no longer in anyone's hands.

As Chillingworth departs, Hester thinks that though it's a sin, she hates Chillingworth for tricking her into Hester reveals to Dimmesdale that Chillingworth was her husband. Dimmesdale, furious, blames her for his suffering. But he then forgives her Dimmesdale says living under Chillingworth 's control is worse than death, but he sees no way out.

Hester tells him to At home, Dimmesdale tells Chillingworth that the "free air" outside has done him so much good that he no longer Chillingworth walks over to and converses with the commander of the vessel bound for England. Pearl in front of the scaffold. He asks them to approach him at the scaffold. Chillingworth warns Dimmesdale not to "blacken" his fame. As Chillingworth looks on in despair, Dimmesdale tears away his clothing to reveal a scarlet letter carved Some thought Dimmesdale carved it himself, as a penance.

Others that Chillingworth , through magic poisons, brought it into being. Still others thought it developed naturally, from remorse After Dimmesdale's death, Chillingworth lost his vitality and died within a year, leaving Pearl a share of his property Cite This Page.

Home About Story Contact Help. So Hawthorne skewers their belief in mentioning Chillingworth's arrival when he states, "Individuals of wiser faith, indeed, who knew that Heaven promotes its purposes without aiming at the stage-effect of what is called miraculous interposition, were inclined to see a providential hand in Roger Chillingworth's opportune arrival. When Chillingworth arrives in the colony and learns of Hester's situation, he leaves her alone nearly seven years as he single-mindedly pursues Dimmesdale.

He does, however, see his role in her downfall. Because he married her when she was young and beautiful and then shut himself away with his books, he realizes that their marriage did not follow "the laws of nature. He now realizes that from the moment they met, the scarlet letter would be at the end of their path. His love of learning and intellectual pursuit attracts Dimmesdale. In the New World, men of learning were rare. Hawthorne says, "there was a fascination for the minister in the company of the man of science, in whom he recognized an intellectual cultivation of no moderate depth or scope; together with a range and freedom of ideas that he would have vainly looked for among the members of his own profession.

In Chillingworth, Hawthorne has created the "man of science," a man of pure intellect and reason with no concern for feelings. Notice the "chilliness" of his name.

In Chapter 9, Hawthorne describes the scarcity of Chillingworth's scientific peers in the New World: "Skillful men, of the medical and chirurgical profession, were of rare occurrence in the colony. As a paragon of this group, Chillingworth lives in a world of scholarly pursuits and learning. Even when he was married to Hester, a beautiful, young woman, he shut himself off from her and single-mindedly pursued his scholarly studies. Once Chillingworth decides to pursue Hester's lover and enact revenge, he pursues this purpose with the techniques and motives of a scientist.

Moving in with Dimmesdale he pokes and prods. His hypothesis is that corruption of the body leads to corruption of the soul. As a scientific investigator, he cold-heartedly and intellectually pursues his lab specimen. Oh, Chillingworth. Of course you would choose such a frosty pseudonym when you're getting ready to track down your wife's lover and persecute him in secret for seven years.

That's just the kind of guy you are. You have to give him credit for perseverance, at least. He did love Hester at one point, so much that he managed to convince her to marry him, even though he was 1 old, and 2 a scholar and intellectual. Later he regrets this, calling it a "folly" to want to marry a beautiful young woman, but too bad, so sad: he doesn't regret it in time to stop three lives from being ruined.

Also, dude: if you've just married a young pretty wife, what are you doing sending her across the ocean by herself and then not showing up for two years? Yea, woman, thou sayest truly! Never did mortal suffer what this man has suffered. And all, all, in the sight of his worst enemy!

Read an in-depth analysis of Hester Prynne. For example, she quickly discerns the truth about her mother and Dimmesdale. The townspeople say that she barely seems human and spread rumors that her unknown father is actually the Devil. He is much older than she is and had sent her to America while he settled his affairs in Europe. Because he is captured by Native Americans, he arrives in Boston belatedly and finds Hester and her illegitimate child being displayed on the scaffold.

Chillingworth is self-absorbed and both physically and psychologically monstrous. His single-minded pursuit of retribution reveals him to be the most malevolent character in the novel. Read an in-depth analysis of Roger Chillingworth. Dimmesdale is a young man who achieved fame in England as a theologian and then emigrated to America.

In a moment of weakness, he and Hester became lovers. Although he will not confess it publicly, he is the father of her child. He deals with his guilt by tormenting himself physically and psychologically, developing a heart condition as a result.