His love of learning and intellectual pursuit attracts Dimmesdale. In the New World, men of learning were rare. Hawthorne says, “there was a fascination for the minister in the company of the man of science, in whom he recognized an intellectual cultivation of no moderate depth or scope; together with a range and freedom of ideas that he would have vainly looked for among the members of his own profession.” This love of wisdom is what will draw the two men together, thus facilitating Chillingworth’s plans.
In Chillingworth, Hawthorne has created the “man of science,” a man of pure intellect and reason with no concern for feelings. Notice the “chilliness” of his name. In Chapter 9, Hawthorne describes the scarcity of Chillingworth’s scientific peers in the New World: “Skillful men, of the medical and chirurgical profession, were of rare occurrence in the colony.” These men of science have lost the spiritual view of human beings because they are so wrapped up in the scientific intricacies of the human body. As a paragon of this group, Chillingworth lives in a world of scholarly pursuits and learning. Even when he was married to Hester, a beautiful, young woman, he shut himself off from her and single-mindedly pursued his scholarly studies.
