Nathaniel Hawthorne the Scarlet Letter: Chillingworth’s Satanic Evolution
In the Scarlet letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a character named Chillingworth slowly changes morally into Satan, also known as the black man in the book, himself, his physical appearance mirrors this change. Chillingworth, also Hester’s ex-husband, was an alchemist that was under the power of the puritan society. When Chillingworth finds out about Hester committing adultery, he wanted vengeance on whoever helped her commit this heinous crime, but he starts changing as he begins to obtain his revenge. In the beginning, when Hester was in jail, Chillingworth decided to visit and talk to her about her crime, Chillingworth was not yet evil, but he had the passion of sinfulness inside of him at that point. Later on in the story, as Chillingworth torments and leeches onto Dimmesdale, he becomes more malicious and is compared to Satan’s emissary who is evidently exclaimed by Hawthorn. Closer to the end of the story, Chillingworth is said to be Satan himself which the puritan society sees, as well as Hester and Hester’s daughter Pearl. Revenge, hatred, and jealousy are all toxic emotions that are triggering Chillingworth to turn evil and are causing the destruction of himself by nourishing on these venomous sentimentalities.
Chillingworth’s evilness was not yet present, nor did it affect his personality yet, but his potential of being evil was evidently shown. As Chillingworth talks to Hester in her jail compartment, his potential of being evil is shown: “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!” These words are intended to prove that Chillingworth is not like Hester, youthful and beautiful, but explains how he lacks the emotional warmth that she has. This does show that potential evil is...