It has often been said that revenge destroys both the victim and the seeker, but there is no more obvious evidence than in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. As you read the novel you can easily see how both Arthur Dimmesdale's health and Roger Chillingworth's health deteriorate. At the beginning of the novel both characters are healthy with a bright future. Chillingworth does have a slight deformity in his shoulders, one is higher than the other, but there is no major health problem evident in either. At the beginning both characters are able to carry themselves with pride, but by the end of the novel neither of them can stand up straight. Arthur Dimmesdale needs a cane for walking and Roger Chillingworth is horribly stooped over.

Roger Chillingworth is known as a leech throughout the book, with good reason. In history doctors were known as leeches because they...