Chapter 4: The Interview

Summary of Events:

Back inside the prison cell, Hester Prynne is seen to be in a "state of nervous excitement" (53) and a physician is called in for her.
Hester's husband, who is now calling himself Roger Chillingworth, poses as that physician, and asks for a private moment with Hester, saying that he can rid her completely of the devil.
Once alone, Chillingworth tends to the child, telling Hester to administer medicine to her.
When Hester is suspicious of the legitimacy and safety of the drug, Chillingworth administers it himself, and it soon after proves effective.
He then examines Hester herself, an act which makes her quite uncomfortable, and then prescribes a remedy.
Hester questions this, too, and suspects it to be a fatal poison, concocted for her husband's vengeance.
He replies that he would rather keep her alive in agony for vengeance than kill her off, and takes joy when she is pained by the acknowledgment of the A on her chest.
Immediately, Hester drinks the medicine.
When she is calm, Chillingworth explains himself, and claims some of the blame for Hester's misfortune.
He recognizes that he should not have left her alone for so long, and that he is not the right man for her.
Then, he inquires about the baby daddy, who "has wronged [them] both"(56).
When she refuses to reveal the identity, Chillingworth claims that he will find out eventually by seeing the guilt in the man's face, and he will take his revenge by allowing him, too, to live in infamy.
He requests that she not reveal that he is her husband, and threatens to harm Pearl's father if she does.
She swears not to do so.
Then, when he mocks her, she compares him to the Devil, and asks whether he plans to ruin her.
He says that he does not plan to ruin her soul, "No, not thine!" (58).

Point One: Religious Implications of the Society

"He described [the physician...] as a man of skill in all Christian modes of physical science" (53)

     In the Puritan society, education was that of the Bible: The most learned people were those who claimed to most understand the word of God.
     In the first few chapters of the novel, Hawthorne is trying to establish for the reader an understanding of this world that is now so foreign to us.
     A huge part of that culture was the overbearing presence of religion. In this day and age, the words "Christian" and "science" seem almost to be mutually exclusive, whereas they were nearly synonymous in the time of Hester Prynne.

Point Two: Irony of Chillingworth and the Devil

"There lacks little that I should take in hand to drive Satan out of her with stripes" (54)

The jail guard insinuates that Chillingworth was called in to rid Hester of the Devil that must reside within her.

"Art thou like the Black Man...Hast thou enticed me into a bond that will prove the ruin of my soul?" (58)

Hester compares Chillingworth to the Devil, saying that he instills the evil within her, and that he leads her into temptation, rather than salvation.

AND FINALLY:

In 53 BC, Cicero, a consul in Rome, was the target of a conspiracy lead by Lucius Catiline. Once he found out, Cicero gave a number of orations trying to convince the Senate to sentence Catiline and his followers to death. Julius Caesar, on the other hand, came to Catiline's defense, pointing out, among other things, that killing Catiline will only save him from the pain of living. It would release him from any debt or punishment or guilt, and therefore is no punishment at all.

Similarly, Chillingworth points out that he would much rather keep Hester alive and torment her from a lofty position than kill her out of spite.