Good guy, bad guy

As the story of The Scarlet Letter came to an end, I could not help but question whether or not Chillingworth was even the villain or not. His death was not intensified or extravagant, instead he just "vanished from mortal sight" (Hawthorne 254). 

I came to the resolution that though Chillingworth was to some extent portrayed as the evil villain, he was not in actual. He was just a man trying to find a purpose in life. Unfortunately, his purpose was revenge on the kind man (Dimmesdale), thus making him seem antagonist the audience's eyes. 

Though the audience must understand that through Chillingworth's point of view, Dimmesdale was the dishonorable one since he was the reason Hester cheated on her husband. 

In one of my favorite series: Divergent, one of the characters is a women named Tori. She is of the dauntless faction and is portrayed to be on the good side. Her brother was killed by Jeanine Mathews- the head of the Erudite compound. In return, Tori made it her personal vendetta to kill Jeanine. 

This is how Chillingworth and Tori show a stark contrast. Though they both found the same purpose in life: revenge, Chillingworth wanted revenge on the good guy, therefore he was marked as the bad guy whereas Tori wanted revenge on the bad guy, therefore she was marked as the good guy. 

In the end, it all depends on judgement. Usually, the "cheaters" are the one's who receive the hate, but due to the fact that in The Scarlet Letter Hawthorne uses pretty connotations to label Dimmesdale and negative connotations to label Chillingworth, the audience is involuntarily obligated to brand Chillingworth as the malignant character.