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ATROPINE POISONING: WAS IT THE CAUSE OF DIMMESDALE’S DEATH? In an article in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Jemshed A. Khan claims that Roger Chillingworth poisoned Arthur Dimmesdale with the drug atropine in Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. C ....

Middle of Essay
.... Evidence exists very early in the novel that deems Dr. Kahn’s theory untrue. During Chillingworth and Hester’s talk about who had wronged whom. Chillingworth says “…I shall contrive aught against his life…”(Hawthorne 70). Speaking of Dimmesdale, Chillingworth goes on to say, “…he be a man of fair repute” (Hawthorne 70). This passage alone shows that Chillingworth did not want to kill Dimmesdale, but would rather let him suffer through what he had done because after all he was suppose to be the epitome of puritan society and Chillingworth knew he would be grieving because of this. Another part in ....