The Transformation of Roger Chillingworth

A detailed Summary of The Transformation of Roger Chillingworth


In the Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a young woman is caught up in sin between two men and bound to wear a letter "A" on her chest. All three of the main characters are sinners. Hester Prynne commits adultry on her husband, Roger Chillingworth, with a minister of the name Arthur Dimmsdale. Roger Chillingworth undergoes a change that transforms him from a respectable gentleman, to a suspicious, determined man, and finally to a man compared to the devil.

In the beginning of the novel, Chillingworth is seen as a highly respectable medicine man. At first, the reader almost wants to sympathize with the old man because of his physical appearance and because of the fact that his wife has a baby with another man. But then, one realizes that Chillingworth's first sin was marrying Hester because he knew she never really loved him. He admits this to her while they aer speaking in the jail cell. "Mine was the first wrong, when I betrayed they budding youth into a false and unnatural relation with my decay." Chillingw


At first, his expression had been calm, meditative, scholar-like. Now, there was something ugly and evil in his face, which they had not previously noticed . . . it grew to be a wisely diffused opinion, that the Reverend . . . was haunted either by Satan himself, or Satan's emissary, in the guise of old Roger Chillingworth.

Chillingworth was by far the biggest sinner of all. Chillingworth's largest sacrifice is, his own life. After spending so much time dwelling on his revenge, he forgets that he still has a chance to lead a life of his own. So, consequently, after Dimmesdale reveals his secret to the world, Chillingworth dies because he has nothing left to live for.

In the middle of the novel, Chillingworth morphs from respectable to a suspicious and vengful man. At first, the Puritans receive Chillingworth well, thinking that he will help Dimmsdale. "...that Heaven had wrought an absolute miracle, by transporting an eminent Doctor of Physic, from a German university, bodily through the air, and setting him down at

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Approximate Word count = 694
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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