Discussion Topic

Chillingworth's relationship with Hester and motivations for vengeance

Summary:

In The Scarlet Letter, Chillingworth refrains from seeking vengeance against Hester because he believes her public shame and the scarlet letter are sufficient punishment. He acknowledges his own fault in their marriage, recognizing that his age and deformity made him an unsuitable partner for Hester. Instead, Chillingworth's vengeance is directed towards Hester's unnamed lover, whom he believes has wronged them both. His obsession with revenge ultimately transforms him into a malevolent figure, as observed by Hester.

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In chapter 4 of The Scarlet Letter, why doesn't Chillingworth take vengeance against Hester?

Chillingworth believes that the shame of public humiliation is ample punishment for Hester. The scarlet letter she wears is enough to satisfy him.

When they meet and he gives her a medicinal draught, she fears he is trying poison and kill her in revenge for her infidelity. He insists this is not so, saying:

Live, therefore, and bear about thy doom with thee, in the eyes of men and women,—in the eyes of him whom thou didst call thy husband,—in the eyes of yonder child!

Public shame is terrible to Chillingworth, which is why he wants to keep his marriage to her a secret. He also acknowledges that he is partly to blame for her state, saying:

It was my folly, and thy weakness. I,—a man of thought,—the bookworm of great libraries,—a man already in decay, having given my best years to feed the hungry dream of knowledge,—what had I to do with youth and beauty like thine own!

He understands that Hester would be attracted to a younger and more handsome man.

There is more than a bit of sexism in Chillingworth's attitude toward Hester: shame is enough for a woman, and a woman is inherently a weak vessel who could be expected to fall in the absence of her husband and the presence of an attractive male. Therefore, Chillingworth sets his revenge sights on a worthier opponent: the man who caused Hester's disgrace.

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In chapter 4 of The Scarlet Letter, why doesn't Chillingworth take vengeance against Hester?

While Chillingworth does feel some responsibility in having married a young, naive girl, he is more intent on finding who his wife had an affair with. For him, being able to watch his wife be humiliated in the community, while sparing himself the agony of being known as the wronged husband , is enough for him.

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In chapter 4 of The Scarlet Letter, why doesn't Chillingworth take vengeance against Hester?

Chillingsworth will not take vengeance upon Hester because he can think of no better punishment than that she wear the scarlet "A" for the rest of her life.  Also, he takes a little of the responsibility for her sin upon himself, saying he should have never thought that it could work for an old, misshapen man like himself to have married a young and vibrant girl like Hester.

Chillingsworth will not take vengeance on the innocent child either, satisfying his thirst for revenge by plotting against Hester's partner in sin, Dimmesdale.

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What is Chillingworth's attitude toward Hester in chapter 4 of The Scarlet Letter?

In Chapter 4 of The Scarlet Letter, when Chillingworth first encounters Hester after his sojourn in the forest, his attitude toward Hester is one of a dual regret mixed with an ironic sarcasm stirred by an unquenchable, bitter curiosity to know the name of the man who transgressed against Hester and Chillingworth himself. After giving Hester an Indian herbal potion to calm her fevered emotions, Chillingworth addresses her explaining what he thinks and what he wants.

Chillingworth says he holds no blame to Hester's account, though with ironic sarcasm he touches the scarlet letter on her bosom, and says he wants no vengeance and plans no evil against her. He further says he judges that the scales are balanced between them.

Chillingworth takes the primary blame upon himself, accusing himself of taking advantage of her youth and beauty by marrying her to warm his own cold heart even though she made it clear that she felt no love toward him. Chillingworth makes it clear his attitude toward Hester hinges on his being the one who wronged her first.

He further expresses his attitude when he asks who the man was who brought Hester to an adulterer's infamy, saying that that man had "wronged us both!" Chillingworth with this makes it clear that he his attitude toward Hester is that she was wronged, that she was a victim and not a villain though his gestures and asides ("burning shame may still blaze upon thy bosom") make his bitterness clear.

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In Chapter 14 of The Scarlet Letter, how does Hester perceive Chillingworth?

But the former aspect of an intellectual and studious man, calm and quiet, which was what she best remembered in him, had altogether vanished, and been succeeded by a eager, searching, almost fierce, yet carefully guarded look. It seemed to be his wish and purpose to mask this expression with a smile, but the latter played him false, and flickered over his visage so derisively that the spectator could see his blackness all the better for it.

In Chapter 14 of The Scarlett Letter Hester seeks a conference with Chillingworth while they are both in a field at the seaside, which is where Hester bids Pearl go to play while she talks with Chillingworth, "yonder gatherer of herbs." Hester is surprised by her first close look at Chillingworth in seven years' time, for his appearance has changed. As the quote above indicates, he no longer looks like a quiet, contemplative scholar pursuing intellectual activity. He now has a strange look to his face that it seems to Hester he is trying to disguise by a smile. The new look that is "eager, searching, almost fierce" was only heightened by the attempt to mask it with a smile. Hawthorne uses this description to reinforce the labors Chillingworth has, first, put into discovering the identity of Pearl's father and, then, put into deviously tormenting Dimmesdale.

Further, Hester notices a red fire in his eyes that seems to emanate from a fire "smouldering...within his breast." This symbolic representation of a fire in his breast aligns him symbolically with both Hester and Dimmesdale. [Perhaps Hawthorne is suggesting that he bore part of the blame for Hester's shame, as it is clear he bears part of the blame for Dimmesdale's suffering.] The narrator sums up Hester's perceptions by stating that Chillingworth's seven years of searching out tortuous thoughts had been turning him "into a devil." Hester also perceived that his ruin came as another price of the adultery between herself and Dimmesdale.

Hester's perception of Chillingworth is expressed in her final plea to him, which is that he cease spreading torture, "for the hatred that has transformed a wise and just man to a fiend," and seek instead to forgive and stop spreading evil so that he, the one who was wronged, might find the good and peace, "There might be good for thee, and thee alone, since thou hast been deeply wronged."

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What does Chillingworth's smile at Hester mean in Chapter 21 of The Scarlet Letter?

Chapter 21 marks the festivities of the English Holiday in this small Puritan colony. Several strangers are bustling about the square, including many sailors from a Bristol ship. Hester and Dimmesdale have made plans to board this very boat together in order to leave the colony, and all of their secrets, behind.

At the end of the chapter, Hester learns in a brief conversation with the ship's captain that "one more berth" must be made ready, because Chillingworth, the physician, has also secured a spot on board.

This information horrifies Hester. In that moment she catches Chillingworth's eye and he smiles at her:

A smile which--across the wide and bustling square...conveyed secret and fearful meaning.

This smile signifies that Chillingworth is aware of all of Hester's secrets. In addition to her own adultury, which is public knowledge, Chillingworth is also aware of her partner in crime (Dimmesdale), which is not public knowledge. He has been "treating" Dimmesdale as a physician, and in doing so, vengefully heaping guilt and shame upon the minister from a dark place of deceipt.

It is in the moment and in this smile, however, that Hester is finally made aware that what she has only suspected about Chillingworth's capacity for evil, is actually true.

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Why doesn't Chillingworth seek vengeance against Hester and who does he believe deserves it?

Chillingworth seeks no vengeance and plots no evil against Hester because he knows she will have to live with her sin in a very public way, and this is more than enough revenge for him.  “Even if I imagine a scheme of vengeance, what could I do better for my object than to let thee live--than to give thee medicines against all harm and peril of life--so that this burning shame may still blaze upon thy bosom?"  Chillingworth knows that keeping Hester alive means that she will suffer every day for the rest of her life.  Why, then, would he seek vengeance against her?

The person who is really deserving of vengeance, according to Chillingworth, is Hester’s partner in sin.  He says: “Between thee and me, the scale hangs fairly balanced. But, Hester, the man lives who has wronged us both! Who is he?”  In Chillingworth’s opinion, both he and Hester have been wronged by her partner, who is refusing to stand up and take the blame.

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