Sunday, November 16, 2008

How has Chillingworth changed throughout the novel?

Chillingworth is one of the more complex characters in SL because he is a dynamic character. Towards the beginning of the novel, he is identified as Hester's husband who has been held captive for a few years by Indians. In this time, Hester has committed adultery and has had an illegitimate baby. Chillingworth talks to Hester in the prison as a physician, but as their conversation progresses, we discover more about his character. Hester feels shocked as she looks into her husband's face to see that his personality has changed dramatically over the past seven years. He was a calm and quiet physician but changed into a "servant of the devil", carefully concealing this new evil energy emanating from him (page 110, second to last paragraph). Chillingworth's new evilness is accelerated to a whole new level when he becomes a caretaker of the young priest, Dimmesdale. Chillingworth always suspects that Dimmesdale is Pearl's father, but he is almost certain that this is the case when he discovers a wound on Dimmesdale's chest: his own concealed scarlet letter. Chillingworth almost goes mad with his obsession for revenge. His whole life is consumed by it, and when Dimmesdale eventually dies, he realizes he has nothing to live for anymore, a very miserable situation (now that his enemy is dead he has nothing to occupy himself).

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