Roger Chillingworth Character Analysis free essay sample

Roger Chillingworth Character Analysis BY MikeDMoon In Nathaniel Hawthornes novel The Scarlet Letter, the character of Roger Chillingworth was transformed from a well educated scholar into a fallen, unrighteous man. Roger Chillingworth was once kind, then becomes the symbol of vengeance, and finally becomes the personification of vengeance to the extent of losing his humanity. Roger Chillingworth (Prynne), a kind, but never warm hearted man, was not always a vengeful and diabolical creature, but once he lusted after the idea of love and kindness. During The Interview with Hester, he admits his fault of trying for love: It was my folly! I have said it. But up to that epoch of my life, I had lived in vain. The world had been so cheerless! My heart was a habitation large enough for many guests, but lonely and chill, and without a household fire. I longed to kindle one! It seemed not so wild a dream And so, Hester, I drew thee into my heart, into its innermost chamber, and sought to warm thee by the warmth in which thy presence made there! (69). We will write a custom essay sample on Roger Chillingworth Character Analysis or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Chillingworths compassion and desire for love and good, over the ruel and evil atmosphere he later develops, reveals that he was not always wandering down the road of revenge, but was a man of virtue. His spiraling fall into malice and morally self destructive actions only occur after he sets himself down the road to find the other person who wronged him, the man who shares his wifes sin, and take vengeance upon him. Roger continues his personal decline by betraying his human nature and turning to a more demonic nature. The physician advanced directly in front of his patient, aid his hand upon his bosom, and thrust aside the vestment that, hitherto, had always covered it even from the professional eye .Had a man seen old Roger Chillingworth, at that moment of his ecstasy, he would have had no need to ask how Satan comports himself when a precious human soul is lost to heaven, and won into his kingdom. (127). Chillingworths demonic action of tormenting Arthur Dimmesdale shows the dec line of his human nature, for no man would put such misery upon another. Though the change in his nature, much like his moral decline, only arise hen he sets himself down the road leading to revenge. He has found the man who wronged him, he can and has taken actions against him. The only comfort that Chillingworth can find for his misery is the misery of others. Lastly, Roger Chillingworth was no longer a man of his own being, but a man possesed by the demon of revenge that he created in himself, who supplied him with all he needed to get the revenge he longed for. .. in the demeanor of the old man known as Roger Chillingworth. All his strength and energy -all his vital and ntellectual 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 in the sun. (236). All that Chillingworth had become was the demon of revenge, and once that his revenge was taken from him, once his victim escaped his reach, he had ceased to have his former drive. The very reason Chillingworth transformed so greatly was quickly leaving him, and in its leaving his demon of revenge left him and in doing so took all that was once possessed by Roger In the end, Roger Chillingworth shows that any man, whether of high or low standings, can fall into Satans grasp, but it must be through his choice. this unhappy man had made the very principle of his life to consist in the pursuit and systematic exercise of revenge. (236). He proves that any ambition to do harm to another leads to declined morality and a demonic nature. Mr. Roger Chillingworth, once a kind, but never warm hearted man, becomes the very example for every mans ability to decline from grace.