Chillingworth In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

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The Scarlet Letter is a well-known book that has been praised for its historical context and romantic literature. Some of the literary techniques that Hawthorne uses in Chapter 9, are metaphor, setting, irony, and tone. During this moment in The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses many of these literary techniques to describe Chillingworth's personality and motives to the reader as evil and disgusting. Now metaphor may be the first noticeable use of literary technique to describe Chillingworth's character in Chapter 9 as the title, named “The Leech”, seems to be a bit odd. However, as the chapter continues, it is clear that the title is referring to Chillingworth's newly acquired taste for Dimmesdale’s depression and regret. ”After a time, at a…show more content…
“A large number—and many of these were persons of such sober sense and practical observation that their opinions would have been valuable in other matters—affirmed that Roger Chillingworth’s aspect had undergone a remarkable change while he had dwelt in town, and especially since his abode with Mr. Dimmesdale. ” (Hawthorne,131). The people in town all agree that Chillingworth’s aspect has drastically changed since he’s been with Dimmesdale. The irony in this situation is that the physicist has gotten worse from trying to “help” Dimmesdale, the one who needed help in the first place. “At first, his expression had been calm, meditative, scholar–like. Now there was something ugly and evil in his face, which they had not previously noticed, and which grew still the more obvious to sight the oftener they looked upon him.” (Hawthorne,131). The people who once saw Chillingworth as a smart and calm man now see him as an evil and an ugly old man the more they look at him. The irony in this situation is the fact that a loved, good-looking man now looks exactly the opposite to the people who loved him in the first
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