Pride as the Primary Impetus of Roger Chilingworth's Downfall in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

Abstract

The Scarlet Letter is the story of human frailty. It deals with adultery, punishment, and penance of the sinned pair, along with the vengeance of the betrayed husband. Hawthorne focuses on the processes of the spiritual transformations of the three main characters-Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth. Roy R. Male comments that The Scarlet Letter is "the most intensely moving and the most beautifully composed work in American history. Hyatt H. Waggoner refers to the ambiguity of this novel arising from Hawthorne's use of various levels of images." D.H. Lawrence also comments on the ambiguity of this novel: "It is a marvellous allegory. It is to me one of the greatest allegories in all literature. The Scarlet Letter. Its marvelous under-meaning! And its perfect duplicity." Because of this ambiguity, there have been different interpretations of this story among the critics. Most critics acknowledge Hawthorne's intense interest in good and evil, sin and redemption through penance and penitance in this story. Male classifies three types of sinners: "Hester Prynne as the openly repentant sinner, Arthur Dimmesdale as the half-repentant sinner, Roger Chillingworth as the unrepentant sinner." Male reports that most critics are interested in Hester but that Henry James is intrested in Dimmesdale. On the other hand, Mark Van Doren refers to Hawthorne's deep interest in Chillingworth: "And three years later, with or without the husband of such a woman in mind, he had made the entry: 'A Story of the effects of revenge, diabolizing him who indulges in it.'