ests that the Black Man may be her husband, Roger Chillingworth. Roger Chillingworth is a character who is almost Satan-like. Chillingworth is described as the Black Man by Pearl and his own description of himself suggests that he is a fiend of some kind. When Chillingworth discovers that Dimmesdale was the father of Pearl, he taunts him and makes him feel more guilt than he already possesses. Hester feels guilty because she has suppressed from Dimmesdale who Chillingworth really is. Chillingworth says, “Ye that have wronged me not sinful, save in a kind of typical illusion, neither am I fiend like who have snatched a fiend’s office from his hands. It is our fate. Let the black flower blossom as it may!” The black flower, as Chillingworth describes it, is the truth of all the events leading up to who the father is, and who Chillingworth is. The truth is a dark truth, therefore it is related with the darkness. Hester, Pearl, and Chillingworth are all characters associated with good and/or evil. Hester’s character is at first beautiful and after she bonds with the scarlet letter she is seen with the darkness, and shadows. Her transformation occurs when she takes the bonnet off, and detaches the letter. Almost immediately her light comes back and she is beautiful again. This is her physical exposure to Pearl, as well as the exposure of her adulterous sin. Pearl does not have anything to expose, but she does witness Hester’s transformation in the light. Pearl, for the first time, expresses human emotion, which happens in her mother’s light. Roger Chillingworth is the dark force in this particular story. He suffices the truth through Dimmesdale and Hester’s guilty feelings. Hence, Chillingworth is the tool for exposing the dark truths....
