During Hester's interview with Roger Chillingworth of
Chapter IV in The Scarlet Letter, Hester is extremely anxious about
her old husband as she examines his face,
"Why doest thou smile so at me?" inquired
Hester, troubled at the expression of his eyes. "Art thou 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!"
Thus
Hawthorne has foreshadowed the reaction that the physician has when, as Dimmesdale
sleeps, he moves the clothing that has always covered the minister's chest. As he
stamps his foot on the floor in his Satanic delight, Chillingworth acts as
Satan
comports
himself when a precious human soul is lost to heaven, and won into his
kingdom.
Now, Chillingworth
does, indeed, possess the soul of the minister since he knows the secret sin that lies
within Dimmesdale. This knowlege changes unalterably the relationship of the physician
and his patient. For, Chillingworth becomes the fiend that holds the secrets of
Dimmesdale's soul, and he can manipulate and torture the minister now. In Chapter XI,
Hawthorne writes,
...the intercourse between the clergyman and the
physician, though externally the same, was really of another character than it had
previously been. The intellect of Roger Chillingworth had now a sufficiently plain path
before it.....Calm, gentle, passionless, as he appeared, there was yet, we fear, a quiet
depth of malice, hitherto latent, but active now, in this unfortunate old man, which led
him to imagine a more intimate revenge than any mortal had ever wreaked upon an
enemy.
Like Satan,
Chillingworth intends evil for the man who has provided him with the revelation he has
sought. As he has previously told Hester, "he will be mine," the physician makes plans
for torturing the minister and avenging himself as the cuckolded husband upon
Dimmesdale. Thus, Chillingworth becomes Dimmesdale's most deadly
enemy.
No comments:
Post a Comment