Essay On The Minister's Black Veil

The Minister’s Black Veil is by Nathanial Hawthorne and is about Mr. Hooper the minister wearing a black veil to show that he has sinned in his life. The Ministers Black Veil is a symbol of sin because it shows isolation, adultery, and mirror images. The story takes place in the New England Congregationalist community. Mr. Hooper was well known in his community and people looked up to him. The story does not say why he decided to wear the veil but we can come to the conclusion that he has done something terrible. He has a girlfriend that is named Elizabeth who asks him why he is wearing a veil and demands him to take it off. Mr. Hooper says that one day he will take it off but for now he has to wear it so he is not taking it off. Mr. Hopper says that it is more a, “mortal veil” and that it is not for,

“eternity” (127). Elizabeth does not understand why he is wearing it and gets frustrated like any girlfriend would and says farewell.
Nathanial Hawthorne describes the black veil that Mr. Hooper wears as, “ two folds of crape, which entirely concealed his features, except the mouth and chin, but probably did not intercept his sight, farther than to give a darkened aspect to all living and inanimate things” (121). The black veil symbolizes isolation for many reasons. The black veil shows that he has done something wrong and the townspeople are frightened by it.

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When people think of a black, as in the color of the veil, they think darkness, evil, sin, wicked, and the devil. The townspeople do not understand why Mr. Hopper is wearing the black veil. We can assume that Mr. Hooper has sinned and that is why he is wearing the black veil. Nathanial Hawthorne writes, “this was the gave plausibility to the whispers, that Mr. Hooper conscience tortured him for some great crime, too horrible to be entirely concealed, or otherwise than so obscurely initiated.” If Mr. Hooper could not tell his girlfriend, then we as the reader, knows that Mr. Hopper is not going to tell anyone about the crime he committed.
We can assume that Mr.

Hooper has committed adultery because he wears the black veil right before he has to attend a funeral and makes a commitment that he will not take the veil off at all. After Mr. Hopper attended the funeral a procession tells his partner that, “I had a fancy’, replied she, ‘ that the minister and the maiden’s spirit walking hand and hand,’ And so had I, at the same moment,” said the other” (124). This shows that the funeral Mr. Hooper was attending; the lady and him had some kind of connection. Mr. Hooper could not even tell his girlfriend why he was wearing the veil and when he attended the funeral and a wedding later that night he was still wearing the veil, which shows that he, was evil. We can assume that he committed adultery and that is why he is wearing the black veil and to show the crime of the dark side that he has committed for a constant reminder that he has sinned. He does not tell why he wears the black veil but we can assume that he does not tell why or take it off because he wants this to be between him and God. He wants God to know that he realizes what he has done is a sin and that he is paying for it for the rest of his

life.
Mr. Hooper openly shows that he has sinned and that he is not ashamed to admit it. The black veil shows a mirror image to show that he has sinned and knows what he has done is wrong. In wearing the veil it shows that he wants the townspeople look at there own sin and to see what they are doing so that the town is more aware of their own sin. The townspeople are in astonishment because they do not recognize their own sin because they are too ashamed by the veil that Mr. Hopper is wearing.