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Nathaniel Hawthorne explores the theme of a war between passion and responsibility throughout The Scarlet Letter. Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth are all each individually caught in a struggle between passion and responsibility. However, it is Roger Chillingworth who best manifests this internal struggle. As a result of Pynne's and Dimmesdale's affair, Chillingworth becomes torn between his responsibilities to them and his selfish desire to seek revenge on them. Chillingworth's desire for revenge consumes his life. Chilingworth neglects his responsibilities as a husband, a doctor, and a "friend" as he seeks vengeance. Chillingworth is a scholar and uses his knowledge to disguise himself as a doctor, intent on tormenting Dimmesdale. Through Roger Chillingworth's deceptive relationships, Nathaniel Hawthorne shows how sin overwhelms and corrupts an individual. Chillingworth's quest for revenge overrides his obligatory responsibility to Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale throughout the novel. Roger Chillingworth arrives in America to find his wife, Hester, atop the scaffold paying the price for her acts of adultery with Dimmesdale. Shortly thereafter his entire personality is taken over by a demon