In the book, The Scarlet Letter, chapters ten through eleven explain and show how Arthur Dimmesdale is being mentally tortured by Roger Chillingworth. As explained by Mrs. Powell and stated in the text on page 117 Chillingworth started out as a nice guy who later began an “impartial” quest as a judge. As Chillingworth began his quest as a judge he started to investigate Dimmesdale to find out the truth and nothing but the truth. From this perspective Chillingworth had nothing on Dimmesdale so he had to try from a different point of view. For Chillingworth to dive deeper into Dimmesdale’s heart he became his friend to get his “intimate revenge” by getting Dimmesdale to confess making him a sinner. Chillingworth wanted to uncover any secrets that Dimmesdale could be hiding that can be used against him. Chillingworth’s revenge came along nicely because he has gotten Dimmesdale to admit to things, like fear or remorse. Chillingworth's investigation was an act of compulsion to dig into Dimmesdale’s heart. Chillingworth’s act of compulsion is where I believe he has truly become evil. So was there really any need to start torturing Dimmesdale? All Dimmesdale ever did was make the mistake of committing adultery with Hester. Surely this cannot be the main cause of Chillingworth's evil uprising. He was away for two years after all so Hester cheating on him and committing adultery shouldn't really have been a cause for him to want to get revenge. Despite what I have said about Chillingworth so far evil can make the smallest thing become the root of greater evil, so meaning that Chillingworth just wants revenge because the evil that he possessed sprouted into something larger than it should have. The root of all evil is power. That is what I believe and Chillingworth seeing himself as this almighty judge is what made his evil grow even larger.
--Juan Martinez
--Juan Martinez