The Minister’s Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Father Hooper, a character in The Ministers Black Veil, has put a wall up between himself and his parishioners with the simple adornment of a veil. The veil is symbolic of secret and sin the Father is trying to hide from the world. A secret so massive, it is not even to be removed by his Fiancee’, Elizabeth. While he, himself will not let his secrets be known until his earthly departure, it can be presumed that they carry the weight of infidelity. On his deathbed, Father Hooper described seeing a black veil on everyone he has met, perceiving that everyone has their own walls and

Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil" embodies the hidden sins that we all hide and that in turn distance us from the ones we love most. Reverend Hooper dons a black veil throughout this story, and never takes it off. He has discerned in everyone a dark, hidden self of secret sin. In wearing the veil Hooper dramatizes the isolation that each person experiences when they are chained down by their own sinful deeds. He has realizes that symbolically everyone can be found in the shadow of their own dark veil. Hooper in wearing this shroud across his face is only amplifying the dark side of people and the truth of human existence and nature.

In "The Minister's Black Veil," Mr. Hooper, the village minister, begins daily wearing a black veil for mysterious reasons. While a veil typically symbolizes mourning and sorrow, the villagers saw the veil as representing so much more though they were unsure of what. The veil both terrifies the villagers and makes them feel drawn to Mr. Hooper. As the story progresses, we learn that Mr. Hooper used the veil to symbolize the evil natures that all human beings try to hide.

In the short story The Minister's Black Veil Nathaniel Hawthorne is explaining how mankind is afflicted by the seven sins. The officer of the church is ring the town bell calling all the people of the village to church, when the church sexton sees Mr. Hooper leave his house he stops ring the bell. The people of the town don't like the Hoopers change in appearance they think that he has lost his sanity and no one walks on the side of the street he lives on. Later in the story the their is a funeral for a young woman and the town people think that's why Hooper is wearing the Black veil “for his own secret sins”. The young minister asks Hooper to remove the veil as Hooper is dying. Hooper is brought to his grave, “Many years pass, and grass

The townspeople in “The Minister’s Black Veil” represent negative judgement and discrimination against Mr. Hooper and veil he wore across his face. “At that instant, catching a glimpse of his figure in the looking-glass, the black veil involved his own spirit in the horror with which it overwhelmed all others.” Mr. Hooper wore the wretched black veil as an act of teaching the delinquent townspeople to look onto others as your own person and to not judge as God would. The black veil stood as a mirror to reflect the very souls of the good townspeople, and for Hawthorne, a message that even in today’s society there is judgement. As Reverend Hooper himself might say, judging a person does not define who they are… it defines who you

The story “The Minister’s Black Veil” is symbolic of the hidden sins that we hide and separate ourselves from the ones we love most. In wearing the veil Hooper presents the isolation that everybody experiences when they are chained down by their own sins. He has realized that everybody symbolically can be found in the shadow of their own veil. By Hooper wearing this shroud across his face is only showing the dark side of people and the truth of human existence and nature.

The black veil is a symbol for secret sin and that Minister Hooper is coming to terms with himself about that sin. He wears the veil one day, seemingly out of the blue. The veil makes his

Throughout the short story, “The Minister’s Black Veil,” Reverend Hooper has a secret sin that is depicted as a mystery to the characters within the story and the readers, but teaches a parable. He wears the black veil for the rest of his life, even on his deathbed: an example in the literal sense for a spiritual sentiment. The crux of the parable is that every person dons a black veil, perhaps not physically, but spiritually. Hooper continually expresses that everyone hide sins and should fear one another instead of being terrified of his visually expressed sin as he had the audacity to wear a black crape, partially covering his face, for the rest of his mortal life. In “The

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil," Mr. Hooper, a Reverend in the town of Milford, surprises his parishioners by donning a conspicuous black veil one Sunday. The town is visibly spooked, yet still curious, about his eerie appearance and profoundly affected by his sermon on secret sin. "A subtle power was breathed into his words. Each member of the congregation, the most innocent girl, and the man of hardened breast, felt as if the preacher had crept upon them, behind his awful veil, and discovered their hoarded iniquity of deed or thought" (2432). The parishioner's expect that Hooper will only don the veil for one day and then remove it, having used the visage to make his point on secret sin, but they are taken aback to

Mr. Hooper, the minister with the black veil, has a sin. Mr. Hooper wore the black veil to symbolized secret sin; this veil represented how everyone has something in their heart that no one knows about. For example, “people have speculations that Mr. Hooper committed adultery with the young girl that died at the beginning of the story”. Simultaneously, he wears the veil to hide his face from the world and what he did. Others will bring up the fact that Mr. Hooper doesn’t want to be defined by the black veil but by himself as an individual. For example, in Article II written by Angie Fullen, she writes, “…but that he was more aware of the need to be defined by his heart and words than by his appearance”. It’s right that

Hooper’s telling his congregation:”I have sorrow dark enough to be symbolized by a black veil.” Even he as the preacher has committed sins, and he wants to hide and express them with the black veil. Both texts also use figurative language to convey their message.

The Black veil could symbolize three things which are adultery, a secret sin, or the darkness of humanity. The reason the black veil could symbolize adultery is because he might have had a secret encounter with a women that he wasn't with. The reason it could symbolize this is because he has a wife named Elizabeth and he might have cheated on her and he doesn't want her to know. During the story the wife asks Mr. Hooper to take the veil off or they are going to split and he didn't take it off so he might have felt so guilty about cheating on her that he wants her to leave.

The final story shows that lack of communication can push people away leaving an individual alone and forced to live with the consequences of their actions. “The Minister’s Black Veil” shows how separating yourself from others without explanation pushes the most beloved away. Mr. Hooper puts the veil over his face and leaves the townspeople bewildered by his purpose of doing this. “‘ I do not like it, ‘ muttered an old woman. . . ‘He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face.’”. This woman's comment alone shows the confusion people have for Mr. Hooper's apparel change. He did not explain to the people why he wore the black veil over his face, and the communication failure separated the people and their minister. None,

If we take “The Minister’s Black Veil” as a horror story, it leads us to certain conclusions about the nature of the veil and Hooper’s refusal to take it off. If horror is something that centers upon the horrifying or macabre, especially concerning the supernatural, one can see that this story could belong. Hooper never divulges the exact nature of the veil, and we are left to speculate about what it could possibly mean. Several possibilities present themselves if we think of this story as a horror story; it could be that the veil is covering Hooper’s face to be a constant reminder to his congregation and all who see him of secret sin. It seems that the idea that he could possibly know someone’s secret sin is terrifying to the townspeople. Indeed, this veil does give Hooper “awful power over souls that were in agony for sin” (943). Sinners fear him, because they feel that the black veil is a reference to their own personal secret sins. And the veil gives him an association with the dead and ghostly qualities; after the girl’s funeral at the beginning of the story, one woman remarks that she thought she saw Hooper walking hand in hand with the ghost of the dead girl. Such things would not have been imagined if he had never donned the veil.

The black veil brings up confusion and interest to the Puritan society because everyone has a different view as to why Mr. Hooper is walking around with his face covered with a veil. To the townspeople, Hooper’s veil is a clear sign that he is trying to atone for a grave sin. “There was but one thing remarkable about his appearance. Swathed about his forehead, and hanging down over his face so low as to be shaken by his breath, Mr. Hooper had on a black veil. On a nearer view it seemed to consist of two folds of crape, which entirely concealed his features, except the mouth and chin, but probably did not intercept his sight, further than to give a darkened aspect to all living and inanimate things” (Hawthorne 369). Although Hooper identifies the veil in a different manner, the townspeople use the veil to focus exclusively on Hooper’s sinfulness because, deep