Hester was married to Roger Chillingworth (his real name being Prynne) in England before moving together to Amsterdam. Hester was the first to leave for America, and Roger followed. She believed him to be dead since he took so long getting to her, but we learn later that his ship sank and he, surviving the wreck, lived with the Indians before making his way to Boston.
Hester is afraid of Chillingworth because she knows what he is capable of doing. He is a learned man and has devoted his life to the healing arts. Having been with the Indians, he has added herbs and medicinal plants to his sagacious accomplishments. He His humpback signifies him as a man capable of rage and revenge which he proves with his torture of Dimmesdale.
When Chillingworth makes his presence known and discovers his wife's predicament, he turns his attentions and knowledge to finding the guilty party upon whom he directs his full knowledge of the arts of medicines.
One gets the feeling that their marriage was not one based solely on love, but more of an arranged union. At any rate, his jealousy is abundant that she has found someone with whom she is in love enough to risk having a child out of wedlock and be branded an adulterer. His revenge is swift and exact. She knew it would be, and so her fears are founded. This is why she goes back on her agreement not to disclose his identity to Dimmesdale.
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