In an article in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Jemshed A. Khan claims that Roger Chillingworth poisoned Arthur Dimmesdale with the drug atropine in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. Certainly, Chillingworth was "a man of skill in all Christian modes of physical science" (Hawthorne 65) and was very knowledgeable about medicinal roots and herbs (Hawthorne 65). Undoubtedly, he could have been aware of how to poison Dimmesdale slowly. Although Khan's line of conjecture is somewhat persuasive and seemingly well supported, it does not hold up under intense examination. There is much support in The Scarlet Letter to prove that Dimmesdale did not die from atropine.

The main point of Dr. Kahn's article is to prove that Chillingwrorth wanted to kill Dimmesdale through the use of atropine poisoning, but there are many parts in the novel that suggest Chillingworth wanted to keep Dimmesdale alive to suffer through his own guilt. Evidence exists very ea

Dr. Kahn's theory of atropine poisoning does not hold up well under intense scrutiny, and would only be true through the eyes of a person who started reading the novel looking for signs of atropine or some other kind of poisoning. To a person who starts reading the book with no preconception as to what caused Dimmesdale's death, the valid references in the novel that support the idea of some sort of poisoning are just coincidental; and the true reason of Dimmesdale's death is shown through his overwhelming since of guilt.

rly in the novel that deems Dr. Kahn's theory untrue. During Chillingworth and Hester's talk about who had wronged whom. Chillingworth says "...I shall contrive aught against his life..."(Hawthorne 70). Speaking of Dimmesdale, Chillingworth goes on to say, "...he be a man of fair repute" (Hawthorne 70). This passage alone shows that Chillingworth did not want to kill Dimmesdale, but would rather let him suffer through what he had done because after all he was suppose to be the epitome of pu

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