The Scarlet LetterWho is the greatest sinner? In this author's opinion, the greatest sinner in The Scarlet Letter is Roger Chillingworth. There are other characters in the book that the reader knows have sinned. The only thing the reader knows about Chillingworth at the start is that he wants to keep the fact that he is Hester's husband a secret. The reasons he can be called the greatest sinner are that he makes a conscious choice to keep certain secrets, he wants revenge on the man who got Hester pregnant, and he intends to hurt the people around him, especially Hester and Dimmesdale. The first reason why Chillingworth can be called the biggest sinner is because he likes to have secrets and he threatens Hester to keep his identity a secret. Hawthorne writes: “You have kept your lover’s secret. Keep mine too! No one in this country knows me. Don't tell any human soul that you ever called me husband! Here, in this wild edge of the earth, I will pitch my tent; for, elsewhere wandering and isolated from human interests, here I find a woman, a man, a child between whom and I exist the closest ligaments. It doesn't matter whether it's love or hate; it doesn't matter if it's good or bad! You and yours, Hester Prynne, belong to me. My home is where you are and where he is. But don't betray me! Later in the book, he determines that Reverend Dimmesdale is Pearl's father. And he confronts Hester about it. Again, he tells her that she must keep this secret as well. At this point, no one else knows who Pearl's father is other than the Reverend, Hester, and Chillingworth. The second reason why Chillingworth is the greatest sinner is that he wants to demand... middle of paper.... ..immediately seemed to abandon him; so much so that it truly withered, withered, and almost disappeared from mortal sight, like an uprooted weed that withers in the sun. This unfortunate man had made the very principle of his life the search and systemic exercise of revenge; and when, by its complete triumph and accomplishment, this evil principle found itself without other material to support it, when in short, there was no more work of the Devil to be accomplished on earth, there remained more to the inhumanized mortal than to withering. his Master would find him enough tasks and pay him his salary duly.” It's almost as if Hawthorne wrote it to be a picture of the devil so that there would be some sort of antagonist in the story who knew the whole history between Hester and Dimmesdale. This is why Chillingworth is the greatest sinner in history..