Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Dimmesdale and Chillingworth

The Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne

Chillingworth and Minister Dimmesdale are two very interesting characters. I have extreme suspicions about both of them. Chillingworth is Hester's husband (or ex-husband?) in disguise. The reader and Hester are the only ones who know of their actual relation. I would say there is a bitterness between the two, but I think there is a lot more to this man then we know after the second section. Minister Dimmesdale displays that he is on Hester's side when she is fighting to keep Pearl. "'God gave her the child, and gave her too, an instinctive knowledge of its nature and requirement...'" (Hawthorne, 86). Now, does he truly believe this or does he just not want to take Pearl away from her? Like I said, I have serious suspicions and he is definitely involved in some way. Chillingworth discovers something at the end of this section, we just don't know what that is yet. They are both involved with Hester and the child more in some way.

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