Cole Vohs

Mrs. McGeehan
English III Period 3
14 December 2014
Sweet Revenge: Chillingworth as the Catalyst in The Scarlet Letter
There are always those two kids in grade school that go back and forth with each other.
They devise plans to get revenge on one another, and they get increasingly worse as other kids
are dragged along into it. Revenge drives human life. The need to get even drives many
personal and global problems in the world, and it might be anything from a divorce disagreement
to a terrorist organization. Everyone has to even the ground and Roger Chillingworth in
Nathaniel Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter is no exception. Roger jumps through hoops to get
back at Dimmesdale for committing adultery and stealing his wife, he even moves in with the
man as his personal doctor. In the end, he tries to save Dimmesdale from dying so he can
torture him more, and it all shapes up into a huge mess. The transformation of Roger heavily
impacts Hester, Dimmesdale, and himself, and his revenge plan affects everything that goes on in
The Scarlet Letter.
To start, one of the victims of Rogers acts is, of course, Hester Prynne. As his former
wife, Hester is more of a side affect of the revenge plan, with the main act being Dimmesdale.
Before any of the things Roger did even happened, he is possibly the main cause for Hester
committing adultery. Hester was alone in the Boston colony, and everyone in the town presumed
he was killed at sea on the way over. A man comments early in the book, when Hester is on the
scaffold with Pearl, Marry, good Sir, in some two years, or less, that the woman has been a
dweller here in Boston, to tidings have come of this learned gentleman, Master Prynne; and his
young wife, look you being left to her own misguidance (Hawthorne 59). Of course, Hester had
no way of contacting her husband to confirm any of the rumors before Chapter 3 when he just
shows up in the town. This probably led her to believe what the people say about him, and as all

stereotypical love and betrayal stories go, Hester feels sorrow and Dimmesdale comes to comfort
her. Although it is Hester and Dimmesdales fault for what they did, Roger didnt make much of
an effort to keep the relationship together.
Later on, when Roger starts putting Dimmesdale through misery without him even
noticing it was him, Hester starts to increasingly hate Roger. Following their conversation in the
forest in Chapter 14, Hester exclaims that, Be it sin or no, said Hester Prynne, bitterly, as still
she gazed after him, I hate the man (172). This lashing out towards him shows that Roger is
trying to drag Hester down with him in sin, therefore causing her to go down the road that he
thinks she deserves. Going back to Roger being a catalyst of the events in the book, this causes
Hester to want to take Dimmesdale and run away. Roger changed Hester by causing unneeded
stress to her, which caused her to break down because she needed to worry about what he was
doing to Dimmesdale.
Hester is not the only victim of Roger, Dimmesdale is also. Roger is infuriated with how
things shaped up when he was gone. He takes most of his rage out on Dimmesdale. He does this
by getting close to him. In chapter 9, Roger starts to get inside the life of Dimmesdale, The
mysterious old Roger Chillingworth became the medical adviser of the Reverend Mr.
Dimmesdale (119). Its interesting in the way Hawthorne brings this up because Roger is
operating under a faade in which he uses a fake last name (instead of Prynne) to trick people.
Although he is a physician, this is obviously not his purpose with Dimmesdale. Hester does not
reveal his true identity because she is afraid of what he will do to Dimmesdale and her, after she
made an agreement to not tell. Roger makes Dimmesdale afraid without even knowing what he
is afraid of. Dimmesdale does not even find out about Rogers true identity until all the way to
Chapter 17 when Hester tells him, That old man!the physician!he whom they call Roger

Chillingworth!he was my husband (190)! Dimmesdale gets a sense of betrayal and also
knows he hates Roger for what he has done to him.
Dimmesdale suffers majorly from the effects of Roger. Roger is described as the
Leech, which is a play on words comparing Roger to a doctor, as Leech was a common term
for doctor at the time, and the bloodsucking organism the leech. He also literally sucks the life
out of Dimmesdale. In chapter nine the townspeople suspect that Roger is the devil and he is out
to get Dimmesdale, saying he is helping him, but causing him harm right under his nose. This all
culminates when he stays up all night on the scaffold with Hester and Pearl and at the end when
he dies on the scaffold, again Hester and Pearl with him. This link between Dimmesdale going
up on the scaffold multiple times shows the reader that admitting to a bad act or sin is good to
release stress, as Dimmesdale feels good when he is up on the scaffold with Hester, even
though he ultimately dies up there. Dimmesdale came out of this whole experience a change
man (he did die, after all), he forgave himself and Hester for what happened. This forgiveness
caused him to be more bright in the ending chapters. He gives a powerful sermon, and looks full
of life, until he collapses.
Finally, Roger pays the ultimate price for his own actions, a guilty conscience, which
causes his own demise a year after Dimmesdales. Roger dedicated the entire rest of his life to
get revenge, and he really shows it. He says to Hester, Never did a mortal suffer what this man
has suffered (168), which shows Roger is even going to high heights in order to not kill
Dimmesdale so he can cause more pain to him and that he is extremely intent on him suffering.
He shows this to everyone in the end, when Dimmesdale goes up on the scaffold and confesses
his sin, Madman, hold! What is your purpose? whispered he. Wave back that woman! Cast
off this child. All shall be well! Do not blacken your fame, and perish in dishonor! I can yet
save you! Would you bring infamy on your scared profession (247)? This part again shows

that Roger has not yet gotten full satisfaction with his plan, but Dimmesdale not falling for it
shows that he as broken free. Roger only goes into a downward spiral and he dies without
closure to his plan. Hawthorne is trying to teach the reader to not let revenge take over their life
or they will end up like Roger.
Roger completely ruined his life by trying to get revenge. He used to be a scholar and the
townspeople even called him that before they met him, he learned man, observed the stranger
with another smile, should come himself to look into the mystery (60). If only Roger stayed
the way he was he would not have become corrupt by his own desires. This is another important
lesson Hawthorne shows in the story. Roger no longer is focused on his doctoral activities and
sucks the life out of Dimmesdale instead. Rogers transformation is a driving force in the book
because his turn for the worse causes the whole plot after the affair.
So it turns out that those kids in school that always fought might not have been too far off
form The Scarlet Letter after all. And although the events of the book are fictional, the driving
force that is Revenge will not cease to haunt everyone poisoned by it, whether it be old Roger
Chillingworth plotting against Dimmesdale or little Timmy on the playground tripping the
person who used to be his best friend. It may as well be all the same and Hawthorne makes that
very clear to the readers. Next time theres a revenge plot anywhere in life, make sure to bring
up The Scarlet Letter and the lesson it teaches about revenge, and the world just might be a less
toxic place.
Works Cited
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. Pleasantville, NY: Reader's Digest Association, 1984.
Print.