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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 T ....

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... through the use of atropine poisoning, but there are many parts in the novel that suggest Chillingworth wanted to keep Dimmesdale alive to suffer through his own guilt. 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 ...