The Scarlet Letter: A Psychological Study in Revenge and its Repercussions The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a story

loaded with guilt, anguish, lies, and especially revenge and its repercussions. Roger Chillingworth, Hester Prynnes husband and the town doctor, goes through three major stages throughout the course of the novel due to his undying need for revenge including seeking revenge, taking revenge, and the repercussions of revenge. Before Chillingworth lived with the Indians for years, he was Hester Prynnes loving husband. He was a gentle, kind man who wanted what was best for her. Unfortunately for her, all of this changed when he returns to the Puritan community of Boston, Massachusetts after she has already committed adultery. When Hester tells him she thinks he is going to take revenge against her, Chillingworth replies, I have left thee to the scarlet letter. If that has not avenged me, I can do no more!' (191) Hester may believe that Chillingworth has no vengeful intentions, but the audience knows differently. Roger Chillingworth wants to find out the man that Hester commits adultery with from the moment he learns of what happened and enact his revenge. Roger Chillingworth spends seven years of his life tormenting Reverend Dimmesdale and taking psychological and spiritual revenge on him. By this time, Chillingworth has transformed himself into a devil..by devoting himself for seven years to the constant analysis of a heart full of torture (188). He begins to focus solely on the mental torture of Dimmesdale and it begins to consume him. The idea of exacting his revenge on the minister starts to slowly wear down Chillingworth until he has been reduced into a leech of a man. It is clear that he has Dimmesdale wrapped around his finger when he says, My finger, pointed at this man, would have hurled him from his pulpit into a dungeon, thence, peradventure, to the gallows! (189).

Once he has taken his revenge out on Dimmesdale, Roger Chillingworth starts to wither away because he has been so psychologically exhausted by constantly tormenting the minister. The minister believes that revenge was a worse sin than adultery. He states, There is one even worse than the polluted priest! That old man's revenge has been blacker than my sin. He has violated, in cold blood, the sanctity of a human heart. Thou and I, Hester, never did so! (217) Chillingworth invested so much energy into revenge that when Dimmesdale, so did he. Once Dimmesdale tells the townspeople of his horrible sin, Chillingworths revenge plot is foiled. The direct repercussion of his plot for revenge is the loss of his life, the worst possible consequence. Revenge and its repercussions truly ended Roger Chillingworths life in a very literal sense. The three stages of his revenge plot, including seeking revenge, taking revenge, and the repercussions of his revenge, caused him to be torn apart physical and mentally. Roger Chillingworth became so consumed by the idea of revenge that he ended up becoming dependent on it for survival. Revenge and its repercussions can have a dire impact on ones life if not kept in check, as can be seen in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.