How is Chillingworth's approach to Dimmesdale best described?

• A. Sympathetic healer
• B. Passive observer
• C. Calculating tormentor
• D. Beneficent physician

Answer: (C)

The main idea here is that Chillingworth uses his medical role as a disguise to seek revenge rather than to heal. He arrives as Dimmesdale’s physician, gaining the minister’s trust and the authority that comes with medical knowledge, but his real goal is to uncover and torment Dimmesdale’s hidden sin. Hawthorne paints him as the man who studies every sign of weakness, reads the minister’s discomfort and guilt, and presses in with patient, calculating precision. He withholds his own name and true intent, embracing the role of a “leech” who feeds on the minister’s vitality while offering nothing that truly relieves him. This deliberate manipulation—using care as a cover for revenge—fits the description of a calculating tormentor far more than a sympathetic healer or a passive observer, and it also sits in contrast to a benevolent physician who would seek the patient’s welfare.