Is Hester doing the right thing by keeping quiet about Chillingworths true identity, knowing all the while that he is living with Dimmesdale?

It is
consistent with 's strong sense of honor that having promised Chillingworth she would not reveal
his identity as her husband, she sticks to her word.

However, I would say she
is not doing the right thing. She must at least suspect that her husband's
intentions towards Dimmesdale are not good. After all, the whole community knows Chillingworth
is an evil man:

To sum up the matter, it grew to be a
widely diffused opinion, that the Reverend , like many other personages of especial sanctity, in
all ages of the Christian world, was haunted either by Satan himself, or Satan's emissary, in
the guise of old .

What the quote above means is that the
community thinks that because Dimmesdale is a man of great goodness ("especial
sanctity"), he is being tested by the devil in the form of Chillingworth.

If the entire community, who has no idea of Chillingworth's relationship to Hester or
Hester's to Dimmesdale, thinks Chillingworth is an evil influence on the pastor, how can Hester
not perceive this? She must realize the danger Chillingworth poses, and she must see how
Dimmesdale health is declining while he lives with Chillingworth. This adds complexity to her
psychological portrait. Underneath her goodness and purity, she may wish for Dimmesdale to
suffer as she has.

After seven years, she will say to Chillingworth that she
can no longer keep the secret, stating:

As the life and
good fame of yonder man were in your hands, there seemed no choice to me, save to be silent, in
accordance with your behest. Yet it was not without heavy misgivings that I thus bound myself;
for, having cast off all duty towards other human beings, there remained a duty towards him; and
something whispered me that I was betraying it, in pledging myself to keep your
counsel.