Roger Chillingworth, unlike Hester and Dimmesdale, is a flat character. While he develops from a kind scholar into an obsessed fiend, he is less of a character and more of a symbol doing the devil’s bidding. Once he comes to Boston, we see him only in situations that involve his obsession with vengeance, where we learn a great deal about him.
Hawthorne begins building this symbol of evil vengeance with Chillingworth’s first appearance (". . . dropping down, as it were, out of the sky, or starting from the nether earth . . .") in the novel by associating him with deformity, wildness (the Indians), and mysterious power. Having just ended over a year of captivity by the Indians, his appearance is hideous, partly because of his strange mixture of “civilized and savage costume.”
Even when he is better dressed, however, Chillingworth is far from attractive. He is small, thin, and slightly deformed, with one shoulder higher than the other. Although he “could hardly be termed aged,” he has a wrinkled face and appears “well stricken in years.” He has, however, a look of calm intelligence, and his eyes, though they have a “strange, penetrating power,” are dim and bleared, testifying to long hours of study under lamplight.
