How does Chillingworth's name reflect his character in The Scarlet Letter?
Roger Chillingworth is a definitive villain in The Scarlett Letter, and his name is meant to reflect his evil character. As a husband, he pays no attention to his wife Hester, instead choosing to focus all his energy on intellectual pursuits. His appearance itself denotes wickedness—Chillingworth is old and ugly. He attempts to disguise this appearance (in a sense) with intelligence. The name itself contains the word "chilling," which generally means frightening (particularly in relation to violence). "Chill" on its own concerns cold, and Chillingworth is a cold-hearted person. Moreover, his intent on revenge is chilling.
As for the second part of his last name ("worth"), Hawthorne makes him out to be a rather worthless character. His role is one of vengeance and ill intent. He makes Dimmesdale 's life a torturous affair, going to great lengths to injure him physically and psychologically throughout the novel. Once the man...
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is dead, Chillingworth's worthlessness is emphasized. Hawthorne writes that when there was no longer any "Devil's works" to occupy him,
all his strength and energy—all his vital and intellectual force—seemed at once to desert him, insomuch that he positively withered up, shrivelled away, and almost vanished from mortal sight, like an uprooted weed that lies wilting in the sun.
With his target of vengeance dead, Chillingworth, too, dies. Without revenge and hatred, his life has no meaning. He is essentially worthless.
Chillingworth's name relates to his character because it is evocative of his personality and connects to his actions in the novel. After learning of Hester's affair and the birth of Pearl, Chillingworth becomes bent on revenge for being wronged. This choice--to make others suffer as he had--rather than the Christian choice of charity and good will towards other, can be considered a "chilling" choice. Similarly, when he begins to suspect Dimmesdale's psychological distress is connected to Hester, he moves in the Dimmesdale and begins to test the minister, which only furthers Dimmesdale's torment. Again, this choice of the bad over the good is "chilling" to read and to consider. Through his actions, the narrative reveals him to a cold and unfeeling character that does not wish to help relieve the pain of others--rather, he revels in it and aids in its continuance.
What are Chillingworth's physical characteristics in The Scarlet Letter?
In this novel, outward appearance often reflects the inner character of a person. Chillingworth, the cold-hearted scholar husband Hester finds difficult to love, is described as a small man with a "slight deformity of the figure" so that one shoulder is higher than another. He uses clothing to try to hide this oddity. He has a thin face that is "furrowed" with wrinkles, making him look older than he is.
Chillingworth's bodily deformities and deviations from norms of tall, virile masculinity reflect his secretive, devious, and ultimately immoral character, poisoned to the core by his desire to discover and then torment his wife's seducer. As we first meet him we learn that:
He was small in stature, with a furrowed visage, which, as yet, could hardly be termed aged. There was a remarkable intelligence in his features, as of a person who had so cultivated his mental part that it could not fail to mould the physical to itself, and become manifest by unmistakable tokens.
He is often physically associated with what at the time were symbols of the devil, such as Indians. For instance, when he arrives at the edge of the crowd watching Hester's public shaming for adultery, he is in the company of an Indian and wears "a strange disarray of civilized and savage costume." Such ambiguous dress conveys that he is an untrustworthy character.
He is also associated snakes. For example, as he sees his wife bearing the scarlet letter and begins to realize what is going on, a
writhing horror twisted itself across his features, like a snake gliding swiftly over them
He is, however, able very quickly to mask his shock, once again revealing his deceptive nature.
When he arrives at the prison where Hester is being kept with Pearl, he is described as having the "characteristic quietude" of a doctor. However, Hester shrinks away from his "cold" eyes and face. He is described as "calm" and "intent," but his appearance makes Hester "shudder."
What quote describes Chillingworth's background in The Scarlet Letter?
Chapter 9 of The Scarlet Letter illustrates how Chillingworth uses his scientific background to become a leech that vengefully latches onto and sucks the life out of Dimmesdale. He appears in town
without other introduction than the learning and intelligence of which he possessed more than a common measure. As his studies, at a previous period of his life, had made him extensively acquainted with the medical science of the day, it was as a physician that he presented himself. … He soon manifested his familiarity with the ponderous and imposing machinery of antique physic; in which every remedy contained a multitude of far-fetched and heterogeneous ingredients, as elaborately compounded as if the proposed result had been the Elixir of Life.
This quote intricately describes his background as a cold scholar. First, he has no connection to others. Having sent Hester ahead by herself to Boston, he later arrives without anyone knowing his true identity. He quickly distances himself from his wife and assumes the false (yet apt) name Chillingworth. Erudition and intellect are his most outstanding and only traits that are valued by others; they provide the only means by which he can integrate himself into the town. Also, earlier in their marriage before both he and Hester moved to Boston, Chillingworth cared more about his studies than about his younger wife.
Second, this quote suggests that he is a shapeshifting imposter professionally. Although he familiarized himself “extensively” with “medical science,” he is not necessarily an actual doctor. He is a scientist who presents himself as a physician. He continues this disingenuous self-representation when he poses as Dimmesdale’s personal physician—and causes the minister’s health to worsen, not improve.
Third, this quote emphasizes his obsessive, erudite nature. He possesses “familiarity”—knowledge of and comfort—with scientific concepts that are ordinarily perplexing and intimidating to others. Chillingworth handily concocts complex treatments with “far-fetched and heterogeneous ingredients.” He wields his intellect and skill as if he were a powerful wizard.