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Multiple Choice

Who says 'Thou hast escaped me!'?

This line is spoken by Roger Chillingworth, the husband who has been disguising himself as a physician to torment Dimmesdale in revenge for what happened to Hester. In the final, pivotal moment after Dimmesdale’s public confession, his life ends and the opportunity for Chillingworth’s revenge vanishes. Realizing that his relentless pursuit can’t be satisfied because Dimmesdale cannot suffer any further, Chillingworth laments, “Thou hast escaped me!” The remark highlights his obsession with vengeance and the idea that punishment cannot truly reach the man who is dead, leaving Chillingworth with nothing but hollow victory. Hester and Pearl don’t speak in that sense of pursuing and failing to capture someone, and Dimmesdale is the one who is being pursued, not the pursuer, so the line wouldn’t come from him.

This line is spoken by Roger Chillingworth, the husband who has been disguising himself as a physician to torment Dimmesdale in revenge for what happened to Hester. In the final, pivotal moment after Dimmesdale’s public confession, his life ends and the opportunity for Chillingworth’s revenge vanishes. Realizing that his relentless pursuit can’t be satisfied because Dimmesdale cannot suffer any further, Chillingworth laments, “Thou hast escaped me!” The remark highlights his obsession with vengeance and the idea that punishment cannot truly reach the man who is dead, leaving Chillingworth with nothing but hollow victory. Hester and Pearl don’t speak in that sense of pursuing and failing to capture someone, and Dimmesdale is the one who is being pursued, not the pursuer, so the line wouldn’t come from him.