Characterization of
Roger Chillingworth
Shealyn Fitzsimons, Chris Griego, Paul Lopez, Katia Quiroz
Ms. Dedmon
Honors American Literature Period 3
9 November 2016
Shealyn Fitzsimons
Physical Description
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White Man
“Small in stature with a furrowed visage which as yet
could hardly be termed aged” (3)
There is an “intelligence” (3) to his features
Deformed: one of his shoulders rises above the other
Shealyn Fitzsimons
Actions and Inner Thoughts
Actions:
- Chillingworth tells Hester that she cannot reveal his identity.
- He somehow finds out that Hester and Dimmesdale planned to leave and buys his way on
their same ship.
- He gives Pearl his land from Boston and Europe, possibly as redemption for himself.
Inner Thoughts
- Chillingworth’s actions come mainly from his anger and desire for revenge
- He blames Dimmesdale for his negative change in character and for the affair.
- While discussing Dimmesdale with Hester, Chillingworth reveals his idea of revenge when
he says, “What art can do, I have exhausted on him. That he now breathes and creeps about
on earth, is owing all to me.” (130)
- Chillingworth focuses all of his energy on destroying Dimmsdale, yet feels no need to get
revenge on Hester because of his feelings towards her.
-He tells Hester that she deserved a better husband with him.
OTHER CHARACTER’S REACTIONS
I.
Hester is startled when Chillingworth is first introduced.
A.
II.
“So fixed a gaze that, at moments of intense absorption, all
other objects in the visible world seemed to vanish, leaving
only him and her.” (19)
People of the town first viewed him as an intelligent man
because of his medicine background. This changed as time went
on.
A.
III.
The people started to believe that Rev. Dimmesdale was
being haunted by Chillingworth. (77)
“I have already told thee what I am- a fiend! Who made me so?”
(119)
Paul Lopez
Chris Griego
Role in the book
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I want
revenge !
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Chillingworth plays the main antagonist in the Scarlet Letter.
He is the new physician in the New England community who arrived from Europe.
His former wife is Hester Prynne
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“That old man!- the physician- he whom they call Roger Chillingworth!- he
was my husband!”(175)
His main purpose is to find the man that slept with his wife (Hester) while he was
gone.
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“That old man's revenge has been blacker than my sin. He has violated, in
cold blood, the sanctity of a human heart. Thou and I, Hester, never did
so!”(176)
He takes in Dimmesdale into his own house to help further aid him, but his real
intention is he sees him as a suspect as to who slept with his wife.
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“...the friends of Mr. Dimmesdale effected an arrangement by which the two
were lodged in the same house; so that every ebb and flow of the minister’s
life-tide might pass under the eye of his anxious and attached physician.”
(114)
Katia Quiroz
Conclusion about the Character
Chillingworth is a vital character in the novel as he is the main source of pain for
other vital characters.
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Chillingworth plays a major part in the theme of hypocrisy.
-Chillingworth’s way of getting revenge on Dimmesdale for hurting him is
by hurting him.
- “‘And what am I now?’ demanded he, looking into her face, and
permitting the whole evil within him to be written on his features. “I have
already told thee what I am! A fiend! Who made me so?’” (132)
Chillingworth also plays a role in the symbolism of the scarlet letter.
-Similar to how the scarlet letter abides on Dimmesdale and Hester,
Chillingworth stays close to them, too.
- “‘But it was the constant shadow of my presence!- the closest proximity
of the man whom he had most vilely wronged!-and who had grown to
exist only by perpetual poison of the direst revenge!’” (131)