Claim: Roger Chillingworth is Hawthorne’s
romantic embodiment of Satan, in The
Scarlet Letter
Connor Protter, Alexander Martin, Alex Harvey, James
Cacciola, Daniel Byun, Sheila Cunningham
Page 92, as well as 270
“Had a man seen old Roger Chillingworth, at that moment of his ecstasy, he would have had no need
to ask how Satan comports himself, when a precious human soul is lost to heaven, and won into his
kingdom. But what distinguished the physician’s ecstasy from Satan’s was the trait of wonder in it!”
(92)
“In the character of Chillingworth appears...the Leech...a man of diseased mental acuteness, changed
to a demon by yielding to an unholy curiosity...he is drawn to the discovery of a fatal secret, a
discovery which he is not strong enough to bear” (269-270)
“Our human nature is too sacred to be applied to such uses, and he who enters its guarded enclosure
from the mere impulse for intellectual analysis, risks his own soul as surely as he outrages that of
another” (270)
Page 88-89 and 238
“These men deceive themselves...they fear to take up the shame that rightfully belongs to them. Their
love for man, their zeal for God’s service,-- these holy impulse may or may not coexist in their hearts
with the evil inmates to which their guilt has unbarred the door and which must needs propagate a
hellish breed within them. But, if they seek to glorify God, let them not lift heavenward their unclean
hands...Wouldst thou have to believe...trust me, such men deceive themselves. ”
Ethos?
The young clergyman of the town, a man of a devont sensibility and warmth and warmth of heart, is a
victim, as Mephistophelean old physician fixes himself by his side to watch to watch over him and
protect his health, an object secret and gloat over his tortures, This slow, coll, devilish purpose, like
the concoction of some sublimated hell broth, is perfect gradually and inevitably, The wayward, elfish
child, a concentration of guilt and passion, binds the interest of the parties together but throw little
sunshine over the scene. These are all the characters casual introduction of the grim personages and
manners of the period, unless we add the scarlet letter, which, in Hawthorn;s hands.
Page 87
●
“Then, after long search into the minister’s dim interior, and turning over many precious materials, in the
shape of high aspirations for the welfare for [the minister’s] race, warm love of souls, pure sentiments,
natural piety, all strengthened by thought and study, and illuminated by revelation, --all of which
invaluable gold was perhaps no better than rubbish to the seeker, -- [Chillingworth] would turn back,
discouraged, and begin his quest towards another point.”(87). (Race, Anne Abbot 246, rubbish)
○
Race is defined as: A group of people belonging to the same family and descended from a common ancestor; a family.
●
“He groped along as stealthily … as a thief entering a chamber where a man lies only half asleep, --or, it may be, broad
awake, -- with purpose to steal the very treasure which this man guards as the apple of his eye.”(87). (John 10:10)
●
“As for Roger Chillingworth, he seems to have so little in common with man, he is such a gnome-like
phantasm, such an unnatural personification of an abstract idea, that we should be puzzled to assign him a
place among angels, men, or devils”(245). -- Anne W. Abbot (litcrit)
○
OED(ph): Illusion, deceptive appearance OR An illusory likeness of an abstract concept; a counterfeit; a sham; an
inferior or false copy or semblance.
○
OED(pu): confused, perplexed; having difficulty finding a solution or understanding something.
○
(Job 1:6-7) “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came
among them. The LORD said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “From roaming
about on the earth and walking around on it.”(Association)
(2 CORINTHIANS 11:14 ) “And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.”(Doctor)
○
●
Pages 85 and 86
Chillingworth
Chill: “Said of circumstances or influences which repress warmth of feeling, enthusiasm, etc” (OED Online).
Worth: “The character or standing of a person in respect of moral and intellectual qualities; esp. high personal merit or
attainments” (OED Online).
The Misshapen Scholar. Physical appearance reflects one’s moral state.
The Leech: (Goes both ways- Chillingworth drains the life and essence of Dimmesdale, while at the same time, similar
to the passage Connor mentioned, Chillingworth’s knowledge of the secret that Dimmesdale holds drains on him as
well, which is further evidenced through his physical state)
“At first, his expression had been calm, meditative, scholar-like. Now, there was something ugly and evil in his face,
which they had not previously noticed, and which grew still the more obvious to sight, the oftener they looked upon him.
According to the vulgar idea, the fire in his laboratory had been brought from the lower regions, and was fed with
infernal fuel; and so, as might be expected, his visage was getting sooty with the smoke. To sum up the matter, it grew
to be a widely diffused opinion, that the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, like many other personages of especial sanctity,
in all ages of the Christian world, was haunted either by Satan himself, or Satan’s emissary, in the guise of old Roger
Chillingworth. This diabolical agent had the Divine permission, for a season to burrow into the clergyman’s intimacy,
and plot against his soul.” (85-86).
Pages 83-92 and 270
“...characters will become profoundly involved..” “...as in Hawthorne or Melville, but it will be a deep and narrow, an obsessive, involvement.”
-Richard Chase, The American Novel and Its Tradition (13)
“The intellect of Roger Chillingworth had now a sufficiently plain path before it. It was not, indeed, precisely that which he had laid out for
himself to tread. Calm, gentle, passionless, as he appeared, there was yet, we fear, a quiet depth of malice, hitherto latent, but active now, in
this unfortunate old man, which had led him to imagine a more intimate revenge than any mortal had ever wrecked upon an enemy.” (pg. 92)
“He had begun an investigation, as he imagined, with the severe and equal integrity of a judge, desirous only of truth...” (Pg. 86)
“But, as he proceeded, a terrible, fascination, a kind of fierce, though still calm, necessity seized the old man within its gripe, and never set him
free again, until he had done all its bidding.” (pg.86)
“So Roger Chillingworth---the man of skill, the kind and friendly physician---strove to go deep into his patient’s bosom, delving among his
principles, prying into his recollections, and probing everything with a cautious touch, like a treasure-seeker in a dark cavern.” (pg. 83)
Literary Criticism: “In the character of Chillingworth appears another law, ---the danger of cherishing a merely intellectual interest in the
human soul. The Leech, is a man of diseased mental acuteness, changed to a demon by yielding to an unholy curiosity. Seduced by the
opportunity to know the nature of Dimmesdale, he is drawn to the discovery of the fatal secret, --a discovery which he is not strong enough to
bear. His character and fate are an awful rebuke to that insatiable desire for soul-gazing, which is the besetting devil of many men. Our human
nature is too sacred to be applied to such uses, and he who enters its guarded enclosure from the mere impulse for intellectual analysis, risks his
own soul as surely as he outrages that of another.” -Amory Dwight Mayo (Pg. 270)
Page 86
1. “Calm in temperament” “Kindly, though not of warm affections” and “a pure
and upright man”
“But as he proceeded, a terrible fascination, a kind of fierce though still calm necessity
seized the old man within its gripe.” (86)
This is Comparable to Lucifer
2. “Sometimes, a light glimmered out of the physician’s eyes, burning blue and
ominous, like the reflection of a furnace, or let us say like on of those gleams of ghastly
fire that darted from Bunyan's awful dowr-way in the hill-side and quivered on the
pilgrim’s face.” (86)
Reflection of a furnace... Looking into the furnace... or rather... like hell itself in his
eyes. Also there was a doorway to hell that is so close to heaven (redemption) just
like... bottom of page 159.