pg 107 "i need no medicine" said he (Chillingsworth) - But how could the young minister say so, when , with every succesive sabbath, his cheek was paler and thinner, and his voice more tremulous than before.
This passage, to me, expresses one of the main happenings in the novel so far and explains a lot about the psychological state of the main characters. Chillingsworth is infested with hate and seeks revenge, he refuses treatment and each day is growing more haggard. He is beating himself up from the inside out, for his hipocracy, and the big knock-down to his ego, he is hurt and regretful. On the other hand, Dimmsdale is in almost the exact situation, rotting inside with guilt. The both of them are keeping secrets and the trapped feelings go haywire without being released and it starts to take its tole not only mentally, but phisically. Chillingsworth refuses medicine because he too feels as he has commited a sin, therefore only making things worst. Both of them are unstable, and the hostility of the puritan environment makes it next to impossible to come through and speak the truth. Its something that could be made a little easier if people werent so judgemental and they could work it out, but in puritan times that is unheard of. they must make a huge deal of it all and involve the whole community and interegate the sinner. Luckily, Hester is such a strong woman and thinks a little outside the bun, while her lovers are crouching up in a ball and weeping like little bitches. If they could just come through and be honest none of this would happen. They cant make decisions on their own they find god as an excuse for acting like cowards.
"youthful men, not having taken a deep root, give up their hold of life so easily!"