FREE ESSAY ON MINISTER BLACK VEIL

MINISTER BLACK VEIL

"The Minister's Black Veil"
Sin is an issue that every human being has to deal with at one time or another in his or
her lifetime. Sin is dealt with in many ways. Some people try to hide their sins, some
try to push them aside and some try to deal with their sins in a more conventional way.
The largest place for confessing sins in the world is the confessional booth at a church.
People go to tell their sins, and feel cleansed afterwards. But what happens when a man
who hears confessions day after day, sins himself. There is no confession booth for the
man to go to. He must deal with his sin in his own way; a way that will leave him feeling
cleansed. Mr. Hooper, in the parable, or short story, "The Minister's Black Veil" dawns a
black veil to deal with his sins. The themes in the story that I chose to explore, were
character, Mr. Hooper being a minister. And I also chose to talk about symbolism. The
fact that Mr. Hooper's veil is black is symbolic. The shuddering corpse is also a symbol
of Hooper's wrongdoing. 
When Mr. Hooper puts the black veil on, he is no longer Mr. Hooper; he is a man that
everyone is a afraid of. His relationship with Elizabeth is ruined because of his
unwillingness to remove the veil. She cannot accept the fact that the minister must go
the rest of his life without revealing his true face. After his first sermon, he did not
go to Old Squire Saunders table to bless the food, as he had done almost every Sunday
since his settlement. As Hooper is dying, near the end of the story, he is alone and
says, "...men avoided me, and women shown no pity and children screamed and
fled..."(328), while others say he was "kind and loving, though unloved, a man apart from
men"(327). 
The theme of symbolism is demonstrated numerous times throughout the book. The veil
itself is symbolic. Hawthorne could have chosen numerous items that would have had less
of an effect on the townspeople. But he chose a veil, a black veil nonetheless. Black is
the color of death, the color worn at funerals to represent mourning, grievance, or
sadness, and this adds to what Hawthorne is trying to say about Parson Hooper. Hawthorne
even says "Earth, too, had on her Black Veil"(324). The veil covered his face, and by
looking into someone's face and eyes, a lot can be determined about a person. In the
story, Mr. Hooper uses the veil to represent the hiding of his sins. Hooper believed that
people would wear their veils on Earth, and then they would be removed at a time when our
souls will leave our bodies and our secrets will be revealed (Judgment Day), just as
brides wear veils and then remove them at marriage. 
Another theme explored in the story is character. Hawthorne chose a minister to wear the
black veil. It wasn't a sheriff or a farmer, but a minister. The character was very
significant to his message. An ordinary person would probably not have been subjected to
the scrutiny that the minister faced. The fact that the wearer was a minister portrays
the fact that even the most spiritual mortal beings have impure thoughts, or have
committed impure deeds. Such actions are expected from every other person in the
community, but only the best is expected from the well-respected minister of the village.

Finally, I think that the funeral held on the day that Hooper dons the black veil is very
symbolic and may prove the point that Hooper really did have a secret sin that he was
trying to hide, or conceal from the public. It seems ironic that Hooper starts wearing
the veil on the same day as the funeral. Possibly the donning of the veil on that
particular day had something to do with the death of the young lady, or Hopper had some
type of relationship with the woman. In addition, Hooper's encounter with the corpse
seemed quite unusual. While Hooper was bent over the body, "the veil hung straight down
from his forehead, so that, if her eyelids had not been closed for ever, the dead maiden
might have seen his face"(323). On onlooker observed, "at the instant when the
clergyman's features were disclosed, the corpse had slightly shuddered, rustling the
shroud and muslin cap, through the countenance retained the composure of death"(323). The
corpse was the only person to see Hooper with no veil on. Somehow the corpse saw
something behind the veil. The corpse saw what Parson Hooper was trying to keep hidden.
Somehow the corpse knew that what she saw was evil and it made her shudder, even in
death. 
Mr. Hooper's veil is a symbol of sin, and the dark secrets that we neither want to face
ourselves or expose to others. There are various items throughout the story that
symbolize the point what Hawthorne is trying to get across. The person wearing the veil
is a minister, which shows the theme of character. The veil being black shows symbolism,
and the corpse shuddering at the sight of Hopper's unveiled face, shows symbolism. All of
these examples prove Hawthorne's point.
Bibliography
WORKS CITED
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "The Minister's Black Veil." The Bedford Introduction to
Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1999. 320-328.