The older, slightly
deformed man who presents himself asis actually 's husband, the man who has been missing for two
years.He is not actually a physician, but he feels that his past education and the knowledge he
has gained from the Native Americans has prepared him to act as a doctor.To this end, he tells
Hester,
"My old studies in alchemy [...] and my
sojourn, for above a year past, among a people well versed in the kindly properties of simples,
have made a better physician of me than many that claim the medical degree."
No one has seen Chillingworth for two years because he has
evidently endured a shipwreck (he says "mishaps by sea and land") and was then
captured and kept a prisoner ("held in bonds") by the Native Americans who live south
of Boston.One of his captors has brought him to Boston in order to "redeem" him out of
his captivity.(This was actually a not uncommon practice among Indian tribes; they might kidnap
a colonist and then ransom that person back to their community for goods or
food.)
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