Roger Chillingworth

fictional character

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Article History

Roger Chillingworth, fictional character, the vengeful cuckolded physician husband of Hester Prynne, protagonist of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter (1850). Vindictive and sly, Chillingworth ministers to the Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale, with whom his wife has had an affair, after Dimmesdale becomes ill. Ostensibly concerned with Dimmesdale’s health, Chillingworth wants only to spy on him and gloat over his misfortunes. Chillingworth is held up as a greater sinner than the adulterer Dimmesdale, whose spirit he malevolently destroys.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.