The Minister's Black Veil

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"The Minister's Black Veil" is a short story written by the nineteenth century author Nathaniel Hawthorne. It was first published within the publication entitled Twice-Told Tales.

The story is set in what appears to be a Puritan community in the seventeenth century. The story details events surrounding one Reverend Hooper, after he suddenly and mysteriously begins wearing a veil of black crape over his face, covering his eyes and nose. The reverend assumes the black veil before the day's church meeting. After, he proceeds to officiate at a funeral and then a wedding. In both events, high supernatural events occur, and the veil's true nature begins to become unraveled. In a later conversation with his fiancée, Elizabeth, Mr. Hooper goes about explaining the reason for the veil, and its symbolism.

It is relatively safe to assume that the message of the story is that of how one can never come to grips with one's truly evil nature. Mr. Hooper's dying words, in which he condemns others as dishonest with themselves, also affirm this theme. The protagonist conceals his secret sin. By concealing his "secret sin," Mr. Hooper essentially helps other Puritans to realize everyone has a "secret sin." Some display their sins and others hide them.

Aside from the theme of "secret sin" another compelling aspect of this tale is the reaction of the townspeople to the wearing of the veil. In many of his stories, Hawthorne seeks to portray Puritan society in a certain way and often he exposes the element of superstition. Although the story does have a supernatural element, it should be remembered that the narrator does not describe these happenings himself, but details the townspeople's understanding of the "supernatural" events. It is left to speculation as to whether or not these things happened or if the townspeople were merely generating gossip.

[edit] List and Analysis of Major Characters

Reverend Hooper (The Minister)- Once a very calm and quite unremarkable minister in the small town, he suddenly and without explanation begins to wear a black veil that covers his eyes and nose. This is not met with acceptance in the strictly Puritan community and the townspeople grow frightened of this man they used to trust. He eventually loses his fiancée and people are afraid and thus shun him. His reasons are obscure throughout most of the story and he is a mysterious character both to the reader and the other characters. In general, however, he seems to feel that the veil symbolizes sin and he reminds others that they too are wearing a veil of sorts. He dies without allowing anyone to remove the veil and is buried wearing it.

Elizabeth- Was Reverend Hooper’s fiancée until he refused to take the veil off in her presence. She was the only one in the town who was not afraid of him but could not take the fact that he wouldn’t allow her to see his face ever again, especially since she does not fully understand his reasoning. She disappears throughout most of the story after she leaves him but is shown again at the end as being an attendant at his deathbed.

Reverend Clark- Reverend Clark is a young minister from a neighboring town who comes to Reverend Hooper’s deathbed to pray for him. He encourages Hooper to take off the veil before he is interred in the ground but Hooper shocks him (and everyone else present) with his strength as he refuses to have the veil taken off.

The Townspeople- The people of the town are highly religious and are very nervous about the change in their normally quiet and unassuming minister, Reverend Hooper. They are not accepting of change and act with superstition about the black veil, claiming to witness supernatural events revolving around Hooper. Being fearful of God, however, they put even more stock into Hooper after his transformation and both revere and shun him simultaneously. The only person in town who does not appear to behave in such a way is Elizabeth.

The story and main character have been likened by some to Johnny Cash's The Man in Black.