Student Question

In The Scarlet Letter, who is the deformed stranger that appears while Hester is on the scaffold?

Quick answer:

The deformed stranger who appears while Hester is on the scaffold is Roger Chillingworth, Hester Prynne's estranged husband. He has a slight physical deformity, with one shoulder higher than the other, symbolizing his cruel nature. Chillingworth, formerly Roger Prynne, was presumed dead after being shipwrecked and captured by Native Americans. His intellectual appearance and deformity foreshadow his malicious role as he seeks revenge on Hester's secret lover, Arthur Dimmesdale.

Expert Answers

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The stranger is Roger Chillingworth, and it is described in the book that his slight deformity is "with the left shoulder a trifle higher than the right" (page 12 of the Holt Rinehart version).  A deformity of any sort is meant to mark that character for some reason or other...here we understand that Hawthorne means to let us in on the secret that this man is Hester's husband and his cruel nature will become evident.  First through his deformity and later through his treatment of Dimmesdale.

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The man, we come to find out, is Roger Chillingworth, Hester's husband.  It is said that he has the look of an intellectual about him--of someone who spent more time tending to intellectual pursuits than developing himself physically.  The narrator states that the stanger is small in stature and has one shoulder that is lower than the other. 

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In The Scarlet Letter, who is the stranger and how is he connected to Hester?

The stranger who comes to the village eventually offers the name Roger Chillingworth, but he is actually Roger Prynne.  He is Hester Prynne's estranged husband.  Theirs had been an arranged marriage back in England.  Hester's family had fallen on hard times, and Roger Prynne was a much-older scholar looking for a young wife.  After living in The Netherlands for a time, Roger Prynne put Hester on a ship headed for the American colonies.  He was to conclude some business in Europe and then join her in the Puritan colony. However, his ship was shipwrecked and he was held captive by American Indians for a lengthy period.  He was presumed dead, and Hester went on to have an affair and become pregnant with a man she refuses to identify.

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