Sinful Fate in the Scarlet Letter
Sinful Fate in the Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a novel about adultery committed by young Hester Prynne and Reverend Dimmesdale in the Puritan world of seventeenth century Boston. Even though, they share the relationship of extremely opposing each other throughout the book, Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth, an alchemist, antagonist, and Hester’s husband, are different and similar in appearance, respect, and how they change throughout the novel.
Chillngworth and Dimmesdale come from very different backgrounds, but both are still respected and educated men. Chillingworth has “learning and intelligence and possess more than a common nature,” because he is “extensively acquainted with the medieval science of the day” (pg.109). The colony believes that “Roger Chillingworth is a brilliant acquisition;” he is “an absolute miracle, Doctor of Physics, from a German University” (pg.111). Not many Puritan citizens in the colony possess a college education. The skills, that Chillingworth possesses makes “this learned stranger exemplary” and he is now “known to be a man of skill” (pg.111). On the other hand, “Reverend Dimmesdale; a young clergyman,” who had come from a “great English University,” and also possessed great skill” (pg.62). Dimmesdale “has eloquence and fervor,” which gives him the “earnest of high eminence in his profession” of ministry (pg.62). Being a priest brings a degree of respect; Dimmesdale is believed to be a “true priest, a true religionist, ’a little less than an ordained apostle” (pg.113). The colony praises Dimmesdale and hopes he would “do as great deed...for the New England Church as early Fathers had achieved for the infancy of the Christian faith” (pg.110).
Many changes occur in a person over time. Chillingworth and Dimmesdale both sin and are mentally distraught by their sins. Dimmesdale commits adultery with Chillingworth’s wife; Chillingworth seeks vengeance and indirectly kill Dimmesdale. In the beginning of the novel, Chillingworth's “expression had been calm, meditative, scholar like,” after frequently sinning, “there was something evil in his face” which grows “still the more obvious to sight” (pg.118). Sin controls Chillingworth so much he starts “transforming himself into a devil, in a reasonable space of time, he will undertake the devil’s office” (pg.154).
One thing that is a very obvious contrast in the novel is the initial appearance of Chillingworth and Dimmesdale. Chillngworth is deformed because “one of the men’s shoulders rose higher than the other” (pg.109). However, Dimmesdale is “a person of aspect, white, lofty,...