The Ministers Black Veil

Antonia Sanders
October 20, 2009
AP English III
The Ministers Black Veil
By Nathaniel Hawthorne
In this story Nathaniel Hawthorne talks about how a reverend changes his identity by wearing a black veil. This veil is worn for the simple reason which is that he has done wrong and committed a sin. The fact that he wears this veil is important to him, but what he doesn’t realize is that others look at him differently.
The black veil could represent a lot of things. I think it does have something to do with Reverend Mr. Hooper being a sinner and now he is ashamed of what he has done. The veil could have been any color but the author chooses “black”. This could have been to represent how Mr. Hooper felt about his wrong doings, and the color black could have been picked to represent the secret he was hiding. “If I hide my face for sorrow, there is cause enough and if I cover it for secret sin, what mortal might not do the same”. In this quote Mr. Hooper says how he can’t uncover his face because he has done wrong.“It was tinged, rather more darkly than usual, with the gentle gloom of Mr. Hooper’s temperament. The subject had reference to secret sin, and those sad mysteries which we hide from our nearest and dearest”. In this quote the reverend is basically speaking about his self and saying that he has done sin which he hides from his loved ones. This quote also shows a mood of someone who acts like something is bothering them or they have done something but just won’t say. The diction Nathaniel Hawthorne uses in this quote like: temperament, gloom, and sad shows that he’s his personality is full of depression.
With the reverend wearing this veil it makes a lot of people think different of him. “I don’t like it… He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face… Our parson has gone mad”. The people in his community have all these opinions about him for his new style. This veil affected the way the people looked at Mr. Hooper because they couldn’t understand why and what was the purpose of this. Basically he just suddenly turned himself into this awful person who kept his self concealed. Since he refused to take off the veil for his loved one, Elizabeth, she had a change of heart of staying with him and soon tells him “Then farewell”.