We don't really know. Hawthorne may not have known either; it was just a literary device to set up a conflict. Of course, in the time he was writing about, people got married because it was expected. If she hadn't already been stigmatized as a loose woman, Hester would have been viewed with suspicion just for being unattached.
Hester Prynne marries Roger Chillingworth out of need, not love. Hester was poor and the sound of a future with someone rich sounded much more promising than her current life. Hester may have believed that they could fall in love one day, and they might have. Chillingworth's was so busy with work he had no time for Hester.
Roger Chillingworth, Hester Prynne's husband, was still at home attending to business. He sent Hester ahead to Massachusetts Bay Colony while he continued to take care of the business.
Roger Chillingworth was Hester's husband
Hester Prynne's husband, Roger Chillingworth, is a physician.
Roger Chillingworth asks Hester to keep the secret that he is her husband and that he is seeking revenge on the man who had an affair with her.
When Hester meets Roger Chillingworth on the peninsula, she tells him that she is going to make Reverend Dimmesdale aware of Chillingworth's true identity (Roger Prynne - Hester's former husband.)Hester says to Roger Chillingworth "I must reveal the secret. He [Arthur Dimmesdale] must discern thy true character, to discuss this matter with him, told him to be there for that discussion.
Roger Chillingworth's main objective in The Scarlet Letter is to slowly torture Hester by reminding her of her crime as constantly as he can, the reason for his repeated visits to her throughout the novel.
The antagonist in "The Scarlet Letter" is seen as Roger Chillingworth, Hester Prynne's vengeful and manipulative husband. Chillingworth's obsession with seeking revenge on Hester's lover, Reverend Dimmesdale, drives much of the conflict in the novel.
Hester tells the true identity of Roger Chilling-worth and the King was amused but said for her to keep living in the kingdom.
roger bacon was not wed, for he was a monk and then monks did not marry
In "The Scarlet Letter," Roger Chillingworth is the protagonist Hester Prynne's estranged husband who arrives in the colony years after she was publicly shamed and forced to wear the scarlet letter 'A' for adultery. He seeks revenge on Hester's lover, Arthur Dimmesdale, and becomes consumed by bitterness and obsession.
The stranger, Roger Chillingworth, is Hester's husband. He does not want people to know that he is her husband.