The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne — Read

Following the incident just described, the relationship between the minister and the doctor changed substantially, though it outwardly appeared the same. Roger Chillingworth now had a clear path in front of him, even if it was not quite the one he had meant to take. And although he seemed calm, gentle, and reasonable, I am afraid there was a hidden well of malice that stirred from inside this poor old man and allowed him to conceive a more personal revenge than anyone else ever could. He had made himself the minister’s one trusted friend—the person in whom Mr. Dimmesdale confided all the fear, remorse, agony, ineffective repentance, and sinful thoughts he struggled to keep away! The world would have pitied and forgiven him for all that guilty sorrow. But instead he only revealed himself to the pitiless and unforgiving doctor! All that dark treasure was lavished on the one man who sought to use it for vengeance!

The minister’s shy and sensitive nature had foiled the doctor’s plan for revenge. Yet Roger Chillingworth was no less satisfied with this turn of events that chance had substituted for his own wicked schemes. Fate would use both avenger and victim for its own purposes, perhaps pardoning where it seemed fit to punish. Roger Chillingworth could almost believe that he had been granted a revelation. It mattered little to him whether the revelation came from Heaven or from Hell: With its aid, he seemed to see deep into the soul of Mr. Dimmesdale. From then on, the doctor became not just an observer of the minister’s life but a chief actor in it. He could manipulate the minister as he chose. Would he inspire a throb of agony? The minister was always on the rack. One only had to know how to turn the gears—and the doctor knew this well! Would he startle the minister with sudden fear? The minister imagined phantoms of awful shame flocking around him—as though these horrific forms were conjured by the wand of a magician—all pointing their fingers at his breast!