Roger Chillingworth is a fictional character and primary antagonist in the 1850 novelThe Scarlet Letter byNathaniel Hawthorne. He is an English scholar who moves to the New World after his wife,Hester Prynne.

Roger Chillingworth
First appearance	The Scarlet Letter
Designed by	Nathaniel Hawthorne
In-universe information
Occupation	Physician,alchemist
Spouse	Hester Prynne
Nationality	English

Chillingworth, aphysician and student ofalchemy, attempts to emigrate fromEngland toPuritan Boston. He sends his wife ahead to set up in Boston, but he is delayed by problems at sea and then held captive byIndians. When he finally arrives in Boston, he finds his wife on ascaffold, being shamed for committingadultery. Meeting Hester in jail, Chillingworth presses her to divulge the name of her partner in adultery, but she refuses. Searching without her help, he eventually discovers that her lover is the town minister,Arthur Dimmesdale. Using his position as a doctor, and under the guise of treating Dimmesdale's unexplained sickness, Chillingworth manipulates Dimmesdale into insanity and suffering. Toward the end of the book, he tries to prevent Dimmesdale from confessing hissin publicly in order to force Dimmesdale to keep living with the emotional and spiritual suffering from the guilt of his unconfessed sin, but Dimmesdale confesses anyway, shortly before his death. Chillingworth then also dies because he no longer has a victim to harm.^[1]

Chillingworth was portrayed byHenry B. Walthall inVictor Seastrom's1926 film adaptation, starringLillian Gish. He reprised the role oppositeColleen Moore in the1934 adaptation.^[2]Chillingworth was played byRobert Duvall in the1995 adaptation, starringDemi Moore.