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Roger Chillingworth In the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorn the characters each had a very distinct trait or characteristic. Hawthorn develops this characteristic through out the entire novel. Roger Chillingworth was the educated husband of Hester, when he returns from being kidnapped by Indians he finds Hester on the scaffold, with her child Pearl being punished for adultery. From that moment his evilness awakens, becomes an addiction and eventually kills him. In the beginning when Roger first saw Hester on the scaffold his heart lusted for revenge for the man who had done this to her. Later when Roger went to administer medication to baby Pearl he makes Hester promise to keep the secret of their marriage between the two of them. “It may be,” he replied, “because I will not encounter the dishonor that besmirched the husband of a faithless woman. It may be for other reasons. Enough, it is my purpose to live and die unknown. Let, therefore, thy husband be to the world as one already dead, and no tidings shall ever come. Recognize me not, by word, by sign, by look! Breath no the secret, above all to the man thou wo