Roger Chillingworth
A character sketch by: Lindsay Rucker
Chillingworth is the old, ugly, cruel, deformed, and demented
husband of Hester Prynne. He is presented as a scholar and
physician, who has traveled to distant places before deciding to settle in America. His lack of sensitivity is shown in his choosing such a young, naive, and beautiful woman as his bride. His lack of chivalry is displayed in his act of sending his young and inexperienced wife ahead of him to a new world, leaving
her to fend for herself. His cruelty is seen when he does not try to contact her in New England for two years. …
