The Pursuit of Revenge By Travis

In ones pursuit to quench the thirst of revenge, irrational thoughts and behaviors become common. As is the case of Chillingworth In the story The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. As Chillingworth attempts to find the truth about his adulterous wife, he likewise many of us in today’s society struggle with question of where to draw the line in our quest to make to offender pay. However we can get so consumed by revenge that we pay for our sins of revenge in the form of mental and physical stresses on our bodies.
In seeking revenge upon the person Hester committed adultery with, the very soul and being of a good man is slowly changed from good to a sinister evil, leaving Chillingworth a shadow, of the man he once was. Hence the false name “Chillingworth”, which may be a subtle precursor of his meticulous plan, to dissect and publicly embarrass Hester’s partner in sin. Chillingworth, upon uttering the words “he will be known!--he will be known!--he will be known!"(1393), signifies the turning point in his life where there is a new purpose for his existence. Physiological problems become a part of his personality, a part of his being. Chillingworth became dependent on Dimmesdale as a source of energy as he continues to torment and extract any knowledge from him. This thirst for revenge has resulted in Chillingworth unwillingly being a prisoner to another person, essentially being dependent on Dimmesdale to survive, just as a louse is dependent on its host to receive nutrients. This is no different from what we see in today’s society in the cause of stalker’s and petty files, where they are so consumed with evil thoughts, that the ability to think rationally is no longer possible.
The problems that relate to emotional stresses and physiological strains are not limited to ones brain, as the weight of these mental stresses takes a toll on the physical appearance of one’s body. We see this everyday in the world around us, the mental stresses to be thin causes some people to become anorexic, which in turn results in a malnourished appearance of the body. However Chillinworth’s obsession with revenge causes his appearance to deteriorate from the elderly scholar appearance to an almost demonic child of the devil. Hawthorne says “Ever and anon, too, there came a glare of red light out of his eyes, as if the old man's soul were on fire and kept on smoldering duskily within his breast”. This among other statements such as “So Roger Chillingworth a deformed old figure, with a face that haunted men’s memories longer than they liked” (1446), shows the physical effects of his sinful revenge.
Fuelled by emotions, revenge takes both Chillingworth and our contemporaries down a path of sin and hatred. This quest for revenge leaves us at the mercy of the perused, as Chillinworth was the mercy of Dimmesdale, in the sense that he is a parasite living off Dimmesdale, the host. Consequently when the host dies, so does the parasite, as is the case of Chillinworth, as he sucks the life from Dimmesdale, which leads him to physically deteriorate as the Dimmesdale mentally deteriorates, until the both die. The ultimate consequence of sinful revenge, death.

Works Cited
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. 7th ed. Vol. B. New York: Norton, 2007. 1352-1493.