The Minister's Black Veil Essay

One day a minister named Mr. Hooper decides to put on a black veil which resulted in the town of Milford taking a turn for the worse. This story takes a peek into Puritans ideology. Puritans had a strong belief in the importance of afterlife. They believed that all people were born into sin and could not do anything to change it. Many people were strict followers of the word because they wanted so desperately to be in God’s elect division. In the short story “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mr. Hooper wears the black veil as a teaching to in order to attempt to lead his congregation away from sin.
The first lesson that is conveyed throughout the story is that one must see their own wrong doing before he can judge another

man on his things in his life. An old women mutters “I don’t like it” the same women says, “He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face” (410).

Likewise, Goodman Gray says he has “gone mad” (410). Each person of this small city has something to say about Mr. Hooper’s veil. However, not once does anyone ask him why he is wearing this black veil they just immediately judge him. The narrator tells us “Mr. Hooper had the reputation of a good preacher, but not an energetic one: he strove to win his people heavenward, by mild persuasive influences, rather than to drive them thither, by the thunders of the Word” so it can be assumed that he is a good man by his reputation and goals (410). He does not use the Word to scare them. Nor does Mr. Hooper hassle the congregation into doing what they should do. Instead he wants them to want to do as they should in order to make it into heaven. However, he does wears the veil for himself, but he wanted the people of Milford to follow him. Because he is a minister he is thought to be “pure” but him wearing the veil represents his sins and guilt. The people see him and automatically think that he has a secret sin because he is wearing the veil. Because he wears this veil he is able to face the truth of himself and he does not have to hide from his sins.

Hooper says, “For the Earth, too had on her Black Veil” to show that the veil is a filter that fixes how the world sees him and how he perceives the world (413). Nobody is perfect because they are human. Mr. Hooper says, “I look around me and lo! on every visage a black veil” to show that every person around him should be wearing a veil (418). They are all guilty of who knows what types of sins. In this instance the veil represents them covering up their sins. The people of Milford are so worried about people judging them on the sins that they committed that they don’t realize that they are doing the same thing to others. However, Mr. Hooper can admit that he has sins. In this town it becomes a competition with who can be the purest. Mr. Hooper tries to lead his ministry by example, but he cannot because they are so worried about what secret sins he has committed. They forget to evaluate themselves. Even after Mr. Hooper has died some people still look as him as weird because he wears the veil in his casket only because they have not realized what he is trying to teach them. The people of Milford become so blinded with their obsession with other people’s sins they don’t see their own sins. Mr. Hooper is setting an example that they should follow.
Another moral lesson the story reiterates is that although it might be hard, one must stick to his decisions.

Mr. Hooper’s fiancée, Elizabeth, was torn by the veil. She pleaded with him “there is nothing terrible in this piece of crape, except that it hides a face which I am always glad to look upon … let the sun shine from behind the cloud” because she wanted so desperately to remove the veil. Elizabeth longs for him to go back to his normal self. She saw the goodness in him but with the veil he became a dark man. She still has a lot of love for him but eventually, she wants to leave him because of the veil. He says, “This dismal shade must separate me from the world: even you, Elizabeth, can never come behind it!” to show that there is nothing she can do that will make him remove the veil. He knows that the veil brings isolation (414). As does sin to everybody else because the sinful members of the congregation are left alone to sulk in the secrecy and guilt of their sins. Whereas the veil gives him an escape from his sins. He believes it is just something he has to do to lead by example. Even though Elizabeth leaves him he still wears the veil. He does not let it stop him from trying to accomplish what he plans to accomplish with his morality and the morality of the congregation. He is persistent and does not give up. Not only does his wife leave him. His ministry and friends leave as well. However, he never just takes off the veil like they all want him to do. The veil

helps him see the true colors of the people around him. This shows readers that’s he as a burning desire to lead them in the right direction. Throughout the story Hawthorne references to Mr. Hooper’s smile. The author says, “A sad smile gleamed faintly from beneath the black veil, and flickered about his mouth, glimmering as he disappeared” to convey the irony within his smile (411). He does not smile because he is happy. His smile is a sad smile because he knows he is not getting through to his congregation the way he wants to. The author describing his smile as “glimmering” is ironic because no one can see it because no one can see it behind the black veil. So, Mr. Hooper inevitably cannot let his light shine so that his congregation can follow. This sad smile helps the reader understand the isolation and loneliness the idea of secret sin created. The first time Hawthorne describes Mr. Hooper’s smile is when the people in the town reacted negatively to the veil. The people were so focused on figuring out what secret sin the minister could have that they could not get the big picture. The smile is a smile of pity because he felt bad for himself because his efforts seemed to be ineffective. The people of Milford completely misunderstood him. Mr. Hooper was hard on himself because he knew he did not have an easy task ahead of him. He knew that he had a lot of work to put in to lead his congregation in the right direction.
Hawthorne ends the story saying, “The grass of many years has sprung up and withered on that grave, the burial-stone is moss-grown, and good Mr. Hooper’s face is dust; but awful is still the thought, that it moldered beneath the black veil!” to show how dedicated Mr. Hooper was to the veil. In his casket he has the black veil on (418). His body is decomposing with the veil. His dead body was comfortable in the veil. He knows he has sins and he is humbly dead with those sins. Mr. Hooper leaves this earth peacefully because he is one with his morality. It is obvious that the narrator believes that Mr. Hooper accomplished all that he could in trying show the freedom of guilty and freedom of secrecy of sin. It is up to the congregation and the people of Milford to decide to change their ways if they want to be in the elect group that God choses to enter into Heaven.
Sometimes people do not realize things about themselves and they need someone to step up to the plate and set an example. Mr. Hooper does a good job of whole-heartedly trying to lead his congregation in the right direction. Even though things do not go perfectly for him as he decides to put on the veil. He still does it because he is confident in his salvation and he desperately wanted the people of Milford to be just as confident in their salvation as he was. As a minister his job was to lead his congregation toward righteousness and he was determined to do exactly that.