The Villainous Chillingworth
The Villain
Modern villains developed from the devils portrayed in medieval morality tales into the despicable villains of 16th century dramas. It is no surprise, therefore, that Hawthorne associates Chillingworth with devil several times in the novel.
The Devil Motif
The first reference occurs at the end of “The Interview” when Hester questions if he was the “Black Man that haunts the forest round us”. The Black Man was a name used for Satan and the “forest” signifies his physical and psychological evil.
Some of the settlers become suspicious of his intentions towards Dimmesdale’s health and recognise that “there was something ugly and evil in his face”. This “portion of the community” believed the “fire in his laboratory” was “fed with infernal fuel” and Chillingworth was “Satan himself, or Satan’s emissary”.
When Hester looks at the old man in chapter fourteen, she sees a “glare of red light out of his eyes” as if his “soul were on fire”. Hawthorne then compares Chillingworth to a man who is “transforming himself into a devil” when he is “adding fuel” to Dimmesdale’s torture.
Chillingworth even admits to Hester he is a “fiend” at the Reverend’s “elbow” when he imagines his “direst revenge”. His self-conscious decision to relentlessly torture Dimmesdale and enact an “intimate revenge” is diabolical.
Chapter fifteen ends with Chillingworth ripping open Dimmesdale’s vestment and reacting with “ecstasy” to what he found underneath. Hawthorne suggests to the reader his mad delight is “how Satan comports himself, when a precious human soul is lost to heaven, and won into his kingdom”.
There are lots of sinners in the novel, Chillingworth is the “arch-fiend” and a fantastic villain.
Appearance
Chillingworth argues that a “bodily disease” is a “symptom of some ailment in the spiritual part”. Of course, writers often link the personality of character to their physical features.
For Chillingworth, his malevolence is epitomised by his “slightly deformed” body with the “left shoulder a trifle higher than the right” because the left or “sinister” side is traditionally used to represent evil. Hawthorne immediately repeats the detail in the third chapter: “one of this man’s shoulders rose higher than the other”. The “slight deformity of the figure” could signify his wicked search for revenge.
However, in “The Interview”, Chillingworth reminds Hester he was “misshapen from my birth hour”. This suggests there was a “quiet depth of malice, hitherto latent” and the character was always capable of evil.
When he recognised Hester on the scaffold, “a writhing horror twisted itself across his features, like a snake gliding swiftly over them”. The adjective “writhing” describes how the immense pain and shock contorts his face. In a Christian context, the comparison to a venomous “snake” adds connotations of sin to his reaction.
Hawthorne then describes how “his face darkened with some powerful emotion”. Although the strong emotion is left vague, the verb “darkened” implies there was wickedness because the absence of light also symbolises evil.
Deadliest Enemy
Chillingworth’s intense and relentless psychological examination of Dimmesdale is a “more intimate revenge than any mortal had ever wreaked upon an enemy”.
Dimmesdale fails to realise the “machinations of his deadliest enemy” and continues to be “tortured” by Chillingworth when he “dug into the poor clergyman’s heart”.
This villainy is even more despicable because Chillingworth was his “trusted friend” and he has “violated, in cold blood, the sanctity of a human heart”. As Dimmesdale notes, “that old man’s revenge has been blacker than my sin”.
Conclusion
When Dimmesdale beckons Hester and Pearl to join him on the scaffold in “The Revelation of the Scarlet Letter”, Chillingworth tries to stop them, but the minister manages to reveal the truth about the scandalous affair. Hawthorne describes it as a “victory”.
Chillingworth has a “blank, dull countenance, out of which the life seemed to have departed”. Unable to continue his revenge, the old man is defeated and cries “thou hast escaped me”.
In the “Conclusion”, Hawthorne tells the reader there was “no more devil’s work on earth” for Chillingworth.
