'Chillingworth In The Scarlet Letter'

The Story The Scarlet Letter is a story that is about a woman named Hester who had committed Adultery. She now wears what is known as the Scarlet A. The Scarlet A is worn on her chest for everyone is the town to see, and to know that she is an Adulter. The townspeople found out about her committing adultery because she had a baby named Pearl, but her husband has been gone for a whole two years so it wasn’t to hard to figure it out. The only thing nobody knew was who Pearl's father was. Hester's husband finally came back in disguise so nobody knew who he was and he told Hester he was going to figure out who this guy was. So he did, he had this feeling it was the Reverend named Arthur Dimmesdale. This is who it was, but Chillingworth (Hester's …show more content…
During the whole story Chillingworth is sort of trying to make Hester feel guilty about what she had done with Dimmesdale, but at the beginning of the book when Hester first talks to Chillingworth in the last two years, she asks, “ Why dost thou smile at me?” ( 51). This is when Hester talked to Chillingworth when she was brought around town with her Scarlet A on her chest. She is saying this because Chillingworth is Creeping her out. She thinks he is acting like the devil in a way. When Chillingworth is being like this it is making Hester feel very uncomfortable because she is thinking that she maybe, sold her soul to the devil by doing this with Dimmesdale and having the Scarlet A on her chest. This quote shows how the relationship between Hester and Chillingworth is, and how Chillingworth is treating Hester during the story. He basically tries to make Hester feel guilty about committing adultery. During this whole time, the only person that knows who Chillingworth really is, is Hester. Hester states, "Yes, I hate him! …. He betrayed me! He has done me worse wrong than I did him” (138). This just shows how Chillingworth does not treat Hester in a very good way, and shows how she feels about him. In this quote Hester is talking about how she believes that Chillingworth deserves the punishment and not …show more content…
When describing Pearl, Hester says, “God gave her into my keeping. … I will not give her up!” (Hawthorne 90). These quotes show that Hester really cares about Pearl and wants to keep her and be a good mother to her. Maybe even have a family with her, Pearl and Dimmesdale. Pearl sort of ruined Hester's life but not in any way was it Pearls fault, but Pearl was the whole reason everyone found out about Hester committing adultery. It is all Hester's fault though, she has nobody to blame except for herself. Pearl is very smart and during the story figures out about her father and her mother. She also figures out what the “A” stands for and what it means. But she also loves her mom. Pearl is a symbol of adultery to Hester because, this is how everyone found out about Hester committing adultery. While Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl were in the woods Pearl asks, "Will he go back with us, hand in hand, we three together, into the town?”(167). This also shows how smart Pearl is, because nobody else knew about Hester and Dimmesdale. This also shows that she wants to be with Hester and Dimmesdale and be happy because Pearl and Dimmesdale gets along very well. Hester and Pearl did have a good relationship in the story and seems to be better towards the end when Dimmesdale comes around