Adultery's Effects On Prynne, Chillingworth, and Dimmesdale In The Scarlet Letter

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makes her feel physically beautiful again. In this short period, where she is happy and her mind is free, her body also changes and her former beauty reappears.


Roger Chillingworth


According to Hawthorne, Roger Chillingworth was once a kind and good man. He is also Hester's husband, even though no one else knows this. When he discovers that the father of Hester's child is Dimmesdale, not him, he slowly changes from a good and honest man to an evil man who is fixated on revenge.

His enormous jealously creates much distress for Chillingworth, whose physical appearance deteriorates with his mental transformation. He becomes a sinister-looking man. Similar to a leech that he used to harm Dimmesdale, Chillingworth attaches himself to Dimmesworth's soul and becomes obsessed with punishing him and taking revenge on him.

In fact, Chillingworth becomes so attached to Dimmesdale that he dies within a year of Dimmesdale's death. Hawthorne describes this death as one that ...

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live a life dedicated to goodness, and make a place for herself in society. Chillingworth is so obsessed with revenge that he eventually dies as a result of his obsession, and Dimmesdale is so caught up in self-punishment that he too is consumed.


Important Interactions


When Hester and her daughter, Pearl, face the crowd, when Hester is being sentenced, both Chillingworth and Dimmesdale are present, yet neither acknowledge relations with her. Chillingworth had sent Hester to America and remained in Amsterdam. Now he had come back.

Chillingworth inquires as to who Hester is and what she has done. A man in the crowd tells him how she was sent to Boston to await her husband, and ...

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