Scarlet Letter 7

1.) "Individuals in private life, meanwhile, had quite forgiven Hester Prynne for her frailty; nay, more, they had begun to look upon the scarlet letter as the token, not of that one sin, for which she had borne so long and dreary a penance, but of her many good deeds since" (Hawthorne 147).

Hester is no longer regarded as the town adulteress. That ship has sailed long ago. Because of the Scarlet Letter, Hester has endeavored to be a better person. She embroiders and makes clothes for the poor, when really her talents would be put to better use designing for monarchs. She never makes any waves, and always accepts her punishment willingly. Ever since her one moment of sin, she has been nothing but a good person with what she has been given. She tries her best to keep Pearl in line, and does not try to hide the A that has scorned her life for an entire seven years time. Now, Hester is seen almost as a Saint by society. They will not think the A stands for Adultery anymore. Hester has changed in society, and the court is even considering removing the Scarlet Letter and letting Hester live her life normally again. Chillingworth, however, has to be a jerk about everything. He still regards Hester as an adulteress, even though her sin happened seven years ago. Yes, Hester was his wife, but everyone thought he was dead. They made it clear that they did not love each other, so why not just continue on with the fake name bit and leave each other? Hester would be rid of him, and Chillingworth would not have to avenge anything.

2.) "Better had he died at once! Never did mortal suffer what this man has suffered...he new that no friendly hand was pulling at his heart-strings, and that an eye was looking curiously into him, which sought only evil, and found it.But he knew not that the eye and hand were mine!...Yea, indeed!--he did not err!--there was a fiend at his elbow! a mortal man, with once a human heart, has become a fiend for his especial torment!" (155).

I cannot stand Chillingworth. He is too obsessive over things he should not be obsessive about. For one, he went out of his way to make one man's life a living hell. Yes, Dimmesdale slept with his wife, but Chillingworth was believed to be dead, she had not seen him in two years, and she had not even loved him anyway! Chillingworth, the learned man that he is, could not comprehend that fact, for whatever reason. Why is he going so far over someone who does not love him? He should have seen Hester's adultery as a sign that she truly did not love him, and moved on. He could have kept his fake name and led a new life, but he had to make Dimmesdale suffer. Now, that has consumed him. His entire purpose of life now is to torture Dimmesdale. What is the point? Chillingworth needs a hobby, and he needs one bad. If this is the one thing he actually gets excited over--ruining a man's life--he needs help. Then, he tries to get both Hester and us, the readers, to feel bad for him when Hester confronts him about Dimmesdale. How can both Hester and we feel bad about someone who intentionally purports to be someone's friend only with the purpose of tearing them to smithereens in due time? Chillingworth admits and takes pride in the fact he has changed, that he has become the devil. We cannot help but despise him. He talks like he is so clever. While he may be, he rubs it in others' faces, and thinks himself better than others. He has been consumed by vengeance, so much so that he cannot see the good in anything anymore. He does not see that Hester has done all of these things for society and has endeavored to raise Pearl correctly--he only sees the Scarlet A on her bosom. He does not see the type of man Dimmesdale really is--the type of man who punishes himself for every little thing and who is loved by the entire community and Hester. He only sees the man that in one fleeting moment of passion stole a wife from him that did not want to be wived in the first place.