Revenge In The Scarlet Letter

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Revenge is a very dangerous subject. In all of history, there is limitless examples of how revenge can cause famine, death, and destruction. Humans feel the need to right wrongs, but often do so in a way that hurts many people, including themselves, in the process. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a prime example of righting wrongs, but in the wrong way. Roger Chillingworth commits to getting revenge on the man that committed adultery with his wife, Hester Prynne. As he discovers that it is Arthur Dimmesdale, he aims to destroy his soul, but does not realize that he will destroy his own in the process. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hawthorne suggests through the character of Roger Chillingworth that through revenge, …show more content…
While Chillingworth achieves a negative moral change through revenge, he focuses only on it, making him mentally and physically wither away. As Hester talks to Chillingworth in the dungeon after recently meeting him again, she asks him if he is “‘like the Black Man that haunts the forest round about us? Hast thou enticed me into a bond that will prove the ruin of my soul?’ ‘Not thy soul,’ he answered, with another smile. ‘No, not thine!” (Hawthorne 55). As he commits to this act of revenge, he is taking over another’s soul. To be able to ruin a soul is an awful skill, and should not be taken lightly. A man’s soul is his own, and it becomes destructive when tampered with, so to ruin another’s is a sin beyond compare. This burden to ruin is large, and he soon begins to fixate on it. “”So Roger Chillingworth-the man of skill, the kind and friendly physician-strove to go deep into his patient’s bosom, delving among his principles, prying into his recollections, and probing everything with a cautious touch, like a treasure-seeker in a dark cavern. Few secrets can escape an investigator, who has opportunity and license to undertake such a quest, and skill to follow it up” (Hawthorne 83). A “treasure-seeker” is known to look for gold and riches, but to Chillingworth, his gold is in secrets, and he is relentless in …show more content…
He destroys Dimmesdale while simultaneously destroying himself by losing his compassion, morality, and humanity, as well as his physical body. But after Dimmesdale dies, he has no other reason to live, and has no means of living because he has been destroyed in ruining another. This revenge took place because Dimmesdale wronged Hester, but he ended up wrecking himself as well. Chillingworth didn’t know that he would be destroyed in the process, but cannot be avoided. Humans don’t know the means of revenge to it’s full extent, unless they do it themselves. To fully commit to destroying another human being is sacrifice, because one can’t ruin another without ruining himself in the process. Humans don’t have the power to play God, but they can try very hard to when getting
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