Roger Chillingworth is a bad man, and chapters nine through twelve affirm that. In chapter nine, the narrator implicates Chillingworth in the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury in the footnotes on page 116. Overbury was a famous English essayist whose mysterious murder lead to a scandalous trial in 1613. Chillingworth disappeared during the trial, changing his real name to Chillingworth and traveling throughout America. At some point he met and married Hester, after having learned from the Native peoples of America, and sent her ahead to settle in Boston. This is why in the first chapter Hester sees him walk into town with a Native at his side, and he puts a finger to his lips.
Hawthorne implies on page 116 that Chillingworth learned dark arts/ witchcraft from the Natives. He uses these skills on Dimmesdale when he has a hunch that he was the adulterer. Poor Dimmesdale who is tortured by his grief and remorse because of his sin, is only made worse by the nefarious practices of the “good” doctor Chillingworth. On page 126 when Chillingworth finds a symbol burned into Dimmesdale’s breast, he is reassured in his plot for revenge. Here is the man who stole his wife from him, sitting asleep in front of him, malleable and weak. Chillingworth acts as a catalyst for Dimmesdale’s descent into madness and ultimately encourages the process.
I’m not sure if Hester knew what she was getting into when she married Chillingworth. Perhaps she assumed that his façade of kindness and righteousness was genuine, and perhaps she didn’t know of his implication with the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury, but one thing is certain. On that fateful day, as Hester mounted the scaffold to see her husband standing behind the crowd, she knew something bad was coming. It can be assumed that as Chillingworth changed from a genuine face to that of a cruel old man just in the time that he inhabited the village, surely the mask that he wore when he initially met Hester melted away in time. When Hester saw her husband, she had to assume the worst, especially as he wanted in no way to be associated with his cheating wife.
I predict that as the book continues, Chillingworth will only grow more evil. I think that perhaps he will become a symbol of true evil in the story: hell hath no fury like a manipulative, blood-thirsty man, scorned.
Works Cited
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Bantam, 1986. Print. Reissue 2003.
The Scarlet Reader 
I totally agree with your views on Chillingworth. He truly is evil, as he is relentless at getting revenge when he should be forgiving, but I really wish there was more insight on him. Perhaps there was something traumatizing in his life that caused him to be so terrible; I just want some more backstory so I can actually understand his character. But I do like the points you bring up, because they are absolutely true!
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I think that your interpretation of Chillingworth and your prediction that he isn’t going to miraculously become “the good guy” are both accurate. This book may not be all “gloom and doom,” but it certainly doesn’t seem like a happy-go-lucky Disney fairytale either. At first, I thought that the portrayal of Chillingworth as “pure evil” was a little unrealistic, but I take that back. I remember that for some reason, I read the entire Wikipedia page on Ted Bundy, a notorious serial killer, and his acquaintances described him with the same terms that Hester might use to describe Chillingworth: pure evil. Chillingworth actually has a lot in common with notorious murderers. He seems to have sociopathic tendencies, and knows how to manipulate people into trusting him. He puts up a convincing façade; to the untrained eye, he appears to be a humble, benevolent physician. Nothing can be farther from the truth.
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Ok, so first of all I love your title because it is terribly clever and I wish I had come up with it myself. Also, I agree with the post above that describes Chillingworth as a sociopath. I had not thought of him in those categorizes before, but the idea of him suffering from a mental disorder now seems quite realistic. He is obsessive, manipulative, and significantly lacks empathy. Holding a grudge is normal but Chillingworth takes it to a whole new, unhealthy level.
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I also looked a little into the Overbury murder. I found that it seemed Hawthorne was implying that Chillingworth was working with the doctor that ended up being charged for the murder. It seemed that this man, a real man, had used some sort of poison. This brought up the question of what Chilllingworth’s more formal education in medicine consisted of. It would seem through his relationship with the Overbury case that he would have some sort of expertise in poisons or toxic things as well.
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I really enjoyed the fact that you started this post with the connection to the Overbury murder. I hadn’t thought about it as in depth as you did so I’m glad that you put it in here for me to think about. There were a few points that I didn’t quite follow but overall I definitely agree with what you had to say and I think that your use of vocabulary was excellent. Great job!
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Nate, I really enjoyed reading this post because I overlooked Hawthorne’s implication in the footnotes that Chillingworth was involved in the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury. It makes sense that he ran away during the trial, traveled throughout American, and left his wife, Hester, in Boston. This assists the understanding of his evil character and shows that Hester’s sin did not completely change his character because he was malicious before she committed adultery. I also wonder if Hester knew about the murder because that could have led to her cheating on her husband. I wish Hawthorne expanded on this event more because it could provide a background for Chillingworth’s character. This post was great, good job!
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