In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne creates two characters that closely interact with the book's main character, Hester Prynne. These two men are Roger Chillingworth, who is secretly her husband in disguise to everyone but her, and Arthur Dimmesdale who is her lover but is suspected of this by Chillingworth.

At the beginning of the novel, we see only a link between each of these men and Hester Prynne, but no direct link to each other. As the chapters progress, we get to the meeting of Hester and the governor concerning whether or not Pearl should stay with her. Here we sense the first real interaction between Dimmesdale and his personal physician Chillingworth. The way that Chillingworth comes into the position of being Arthur's physician is simply on the towns regard. They beg and plead with the young minister of failing health to take the doctor to care...