In Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic novel, The Scarlet Letter, representing Puritan life in Boston of the 1640's, he revolves his story line around three primary characters who deal with publicly confessed sin and concealed sin. These characters consist of the book's protagonist, Hester Prynne; her lover, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale; and Roger Chillingworth, her long-lost husband. As the novel unfolds, the author reveals to the reader that Roger Chillingworth, however, is the worst sinner of the three. .
First of all, Chillingworth has sinned against the nature, and Hester Prynne more particularly. It is committed the day he married Hester Prynne. He knew she did not love him, and he was not fit to make her a proper husband despite the fact that he did not wrong her on purpose for the reason that they had an arranged marriage. Yet, before long, he does look back and sympathizes to Hester Prynne, "It seemed not so wild a dream,-- old as I was and somber as I was, and misshapen as I was,--that the simple bliss, which is scattered far and wide, for all mankind to gather up, might yet be mine. And so, Hester, I drew thee into my heart, into its innermost chamber, and sought to warm thee by the warmth which they presence made there!?(Hawthorne 27) He has done a delinquency and his ignorance does not excuse him. In Chapter 4 he verbalizes, "Mine was the first .
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wrong, when I betrayed thy budding youth into a false and unnatural relation with my decay?(Hawthorne 27). His acceptance of his misconduct in this line is an evidence that he, himself knows that he has sinned. In addition, Hester Prynne does very well know that he has sinned also. She knew she was very young when she married him. His acknowledgement to persuading her to be with him comes as no surprise to Hester. .
Moreover, Chillingworth identifies himself under the pseudonym of Roger Chillingworth, while on the other hand, his true surname is Prynne, when he came Boston.