Strange Parallels: The Scarlet Letter and Tokyo Babylon

[rhodrymavelyne]

'In spite of his premediated carelessness, the floor would now and then creak; his garments would rustle; the shadow of his presence, in a forbidden proximity would be thrown across his victim. In other words, Mr. Dimmesdale, whose sensibility of nerve often produced the effect of spiritual intuition, would become vaguely aware that something inimical to his peace had thrust itself into relation with him. But Old Roger Chillingsworth, too, had perceptions that were almost intuitive; and when the minister threw his started eyes towards him, there the physician sat; his kind, watchful, sympathising, but never intrusive friend.’

Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter

Something about this strange relationship reminds me of Seishirou and Subaru during the Year of the Bet in Tokyo Babylon.

Chillingworth and Seishirou both wear a kindly mask, disguising their dark, predatory intentions towards the one they’re stalking.

It’s a strange parallel to draw, which I stop and marvel at myself. Chillingsworth is Hester’s husband. Dimmesdale was Hester’s lover.

Chillingsworth’s fixation isn’t upon Hester, though, a major plot point I found fascinating from the very first time I read The Scarlet Letter in high school. It’s upon Hester’s lover. Chillingsworth confides this to Hester when he first meets her in private…


“But Hester, the man lives who has wronged us both! Who is he?”

“Ask me not!” replied Hester Prynne, looking firmly in his face. “That thou shalt never know!”

“Never, sayest thou?” rejoined he, with a smile of dark and self-relying intelligence. “Never know him! Believe me, Hester, there are few things—whether in the outer world, or, to a certain depth, in the invisible sphere of thought,—few things hidden from the man who devotes himself earnestly and unreservedly to the solution of a mystery. Thou mayest cover thy secret from the prying multitude. Thou mayest conceal it, too, from the ministers and magistrates, even as thou didst this day, when they sought to wrench the name out of thy heart, and give thee a partner on thy pedestal. But, as for me, I come to the inquest with other senses than they possess. I shall seek this man, as I have sought truth in books; as I have sought gold in alchemy. There is a sympathy that will make me conscious of him. I shall see him tremble. I shall feel myself shudder, suddenly and unawares. Sooner or later, he must needs be mine!”

The eyes of the wrinkled scholar glowed so intensely upon her, that Hester Prynne clasped her hands over her heart, dreading lest he should read the secret there at once.

“Thou wilt not reveal his name? Not the less he is mine,” resumed he, with a look of confidence, as if destiny were at one with him. “He bears no letter of infamy wrought into his garment, as thou dost; but I shall read it on his heart. Yet fear not for him! Think not that I shall interfere with Heaven’s own method of retribution, or, to my own loss, betray him to the gripe of human law. Neither do thou imagine that I shall contrive aught against his life; no, nor against his fame, if, as I judge, he be a man of fair repute. Let him live! Let him hide himself in outward honor, if he may. Not the less shall he be mine!”

“Thy acts are like mercy,” said Hester, bewildered and appalled. “But thy words interpret thee as terror!”

Indeed. Chillingsworth has just set himself up as a rival, not with the man who seduced his wife, but with his wife herself. He’s told her that her lover shall become his.

It’s a possessive claim which is quite fascinating, bringing to mind the mark upon Sumeragi Subaru’s hands, which Seishirou can see. The inverted stars which brand Subaru as the Sakurazukamori’s, which warn others that Subaru beongs to Seishirou.
This similarity is reinforced by this moment…


“Why dost thou smile so at me?” inquired Hester, troubled at the expression in his eyes. “Art thou like the Black Man that haunts the forest round about us? Hast thou enticed me into a bond that will prove the ruin of my soul?”

“Not thy soul,” he answered, with another smile. “No, not thine!”


Chillingworth hasn’t denied being like the Black Man who haunts the forest, or of enticing her into a bond that will bring ruin to a soul. He’s just not after her soul.

Perhaps this is a bit like being the guardian of tree which drinks the blood of the corpse buried beneath it, who lures a boy into a bet that proves the ruin of the boy’s soul.

Seishirou spent a lot of time paying court to Subaru and Hokuto, although Subaru is the one he’s after.

Like Hester, Hokuto does glimpse the true face behind the mask, although she doesn’t reveal it, a fatal mistake on her part.

Only it’s Hokuto who delivers the threat in a moment of privacy with Seishirou.

“But…if you ever make Subaru cry…I’ll kill you.”

Man and woman are bonded in a moment of private honesty over the same man. This is a trope that defies tropishness in a wide variety of forms.

Such defiance never fails to draw me in, variations of how we perceive a triumvirate of relationships.

Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingsworth along with Hokuto, Subaru, and Seishirou sucked me into their stories, compelling me to pay attention.

Yes, these two triangles are different, in different genres, and different relationship. There’s a compelling core of similarity in the masked man hunting his prey, one which made me fall in love with both triangles.

What about you, dear reader? Have you ever discovered a striking parallel between two completely different pieces of fiction which drew you in?