Explanation:
Roger Chillingworth married Hester into an unnatural and "pseudo" relationship. He did not love her and she did not love him. He married a wife a generation younger than he. Hester's unhappiness, due to a mismatched matrimony, leads her to become an adulteress. Chillingworth makes Hester to be unhappy. Her initial sadness, along with the three year absence of her husband, resulted in adultery. After his discovery, "Chillingworth moves closer to the scaffold and imperiously bids her to name the father of her child" (Martin 113). Chillingworth repressed his instinctive emotional response to the situation. He was disappointed that his hope of gaining his wife's affection upon arrival was destroyed and he hated the man who had gained that affection.
Chillingworthâs indifference to Hester is responsible for the birth of the illegitimate child, Pearl. The rigid Puritan society doesnât welcome her. Usually a child is treated as an angel. But instead of it, she becomes the symbol of a sin. She has to face some uncommon questions like who is her father, from where she comes. Other children donât play with her. She has no place in gentlemanâs society. No one welcome them. Instead of love there is agony and abhorrence in everyoneâs eye. Hostile environment surrounds her. Moreover Chillingworth reveals as the threat to her motherâs life which makes Pearl more unsecured. So, Chillingworth is the devil in Pearlâs life.
