Roger Chillingworth is a fictional character and primary antagonist in the 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Chillingworth, a physician and student of alchemy, attempts to emigrate from England to Puritan Boston.

He sends his wife ahead to set up in Boston, but he is delayed by problems at sea and then held captive by Indians.

Meeting Hester in jail, Chillingworth presses her to divulge the name of her partner in adultery, but she refuses.

[1] Chillingworth was portrayed by Henry B. Walthall in Victor Seastrom's 1926 film adaptation, starring Lillian Gish.