Chillingworth Character description

Michael Rossi
February 18, 2010
Advanced Placement English Literature/ Mr. George
Chillingworth Character Description

Directions: Taint Soil and Keep Far Away From Sunlight

Chillingworth is an ideal villain.
Chillingworth realizes that he can wreak greater havoc on Dimmesdale by avoiding direct confrontation and exercising patience. As the Devil persuaded Adam and Eve to bring about their own undoing, Chillingworth strive to have Dimmesdale poison his own life: “Roger Chillingworth […] 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” (Hawthorne 113). Chillingworth’s willingness to attack Dimmesdale mentally demonstrates how a more complex crime must come from a more complex criminal.
Chillingworth is like an Akai Ryu (which means red dragon in Japanese) Venus flytrap. Chillingworth seems to offer Dimmesdale the most kindness out of anyone in their community. In the same way, the Akai Ryu is the most decadent plant in the Japanese swamplands in which they reside. Like most skilled villains, Chillingworth relies on his wit as he advertises his skill with herbs and chemicals in order to attract Dimmesdale’s attention. In a like manner, the Akai Ryu releases an enticing aroma that attracts small insects into its seemingly harmless trap. Chillingworth does not deliver any overt singular blows to Dimmesdale, but subtly wears Dimmesdale down over time. In the same light, the Akai Ryu slowly constricts its prey in between the two lips of its trap rather than swiftly clamp its lips closed.
Chillingworth and Adolf Hitler both hid behind their outward charity while they perpetuated injustice that stems from their own personal vendettas.