Black Veil

Employed Symbolism in The Minister’s Black Veil

The Minister’s Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a short story about a Reverend who begins to wear a mysterious black veil, causing much confusion, chatter and fear amongst the congregation of his church and the townspeople. The components and elements of Hawthorne’s story are both developed and altered by his powerful saturation of symbolism.

Parson Hooper, the Reverend in The Minister’s Black Veil, is the cause of the internal and external conflicts that arose in this story. Complications in the town, as well as disputes with his relationship, derived instantly after his enrobing of the black veil. For example, the single veil that lay upon the Reverend’s face, disrupted the whole town, “At the close of the services the people hurried out with indecorous confusion, eager to communicate their pent-up amazement, and conscious of lighter spirits the moment they lost sight of the black veil” (Hawthorne,1042). As Hooper dealt with the backlash of the town and his fiancé, Elizabeth, leaving him, Hawthorne also used symbolism to show the conflicts Hooper was dealing with internally. Hooper revealed to Elizabeth, “I perhaps, like other mortals, have sorrows enough to be typified by a black veil” (Hawthorne, 1045). Which led me to infer that Hooper is dealing with the sin of adultery, being the first day the veil was worn, was at the funeral of a lady who passed away, as well as the reasoning behind the veil being kept from his finance. “This dismal shade must separate me from the world; even you, Elizabeth, can never come behind it” (Hawthorne 1045). Displaying Hooper’s reasoning behind wearing the veil, it also introduces us to the overall, deeper message of what the veil truly sym...

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...f the Puritans, and their complete opposition to a person ever showing wrongdoing. As questions arose, assumptions made, and the amount of confusion that was caused, no one took the effort to ask Hooper why he wore the veil, because of that ignorance, Hawthorne allowed us to see how ruthless these people of that society were. A veil is normally worn for cultural or religions purposed or for marriage, most people do not shield their faces with a veil to represent the evil and the sins that lie within themselves and God. Nathaniel Hawthorne was able to use to a black veil as his symbol of hidden sin as well as using symbolism to criticize an entire society, giving the veil an entirely deeper significance.

Works Cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "The Minister's Black Veil." 2012. Perspectives on the Short Story. Boston: Pearson Learning Solutions, 2012. 1041-049. Print.