In the book, the Scarlet Letter, chapters ten through eleven shows and explains to us what Robert Chillingworth is doing to Arthur Dimmesdale as time passes. At first, Chillingworth becomes his physician and was actually helping Mr. Dimmesdales. But he went on this little quest of his to learn more about Dimmesdale, and so the more he got closer to his personal life, the more he became evil. Thus setting him down this downward path towards the devil's gate. You see, gaining more knowledge changes everything, sometimes in a good way or sometimes in an evil way. Chillingworth wanted more knowledge of Dimmesdale, so he investigated secretly, like an assassin who looks for clues before executing his target. Unfortunately, as he learned more information, he went down the road towards turpitude, and slowly began to torture Dimmesdale. In the book on page 117, it says Chillingworth is a "a pure and upright man," therefore showing us that he wasn't that much of a bad guy to begin with. Later on, Hawthorne explains on the same page that as he begins to dig deeper, he basically loses his personality from before, and becomes this man filled with "mortality and death." This shows us the amount of gravity that knowledge has. If he had continued on with his life without the curiosity of wanting to know more information, he wouldn't have been driven down this road. Should you just become one of those passive people who doesn't doesn't gain any knowledge so they won't be affected by its' negative behaviors? Absolutely not! Again having knowledge does change a lot of aspects in life, but it is never going to be one sided. It's just that the things Chillingworth has experienced has made him become very biased towards Dimmesdale. Not to forget to mention the fact that Robert also has to live with this embarrassment so it is kind of understandable for Chillingworth's actions. But he did leave for two years, so maybe if we wounded time back two years, and he decided not to leave, would any of these events ever occur?
-Victor Vang
-Victor Vang
Image source: http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2515048704/ch0022221
This is a picture of the man who played Chillingworth in the movies, and he sure does look evil.
This is a picture of the man who played Chillingworth in the movies, and he sure does look evil.