“The Minister’s Black Veil” By: Nathaniel Hawthorne

An unexpected change…  The story is a parable.  The town is centered around the church. Everyone congregates in front of the church until the minister comes out of his house.  Mister Hooper is about 30, quiet and well liked, and neatly dressed. The ONLY thing different is a black veil that is on his face.  What is the town’s first reaction to the veil? How do they behave?

A bit of a different sermon  Rather than sitting quietly in church, everyone is whispering and fidgeting.  Why is this black veil so disconcerting to the congregation? Why would the minister wear it?  What is so scary about the sermon on secret sin? What point is Mister Hooper trying to make?  The simple addition of a black veil leads to the congregation avoiding Mister Hooper after church. Has the pastor truly done anything wrong?

He’s not done yet…  The veil was not a one-time occurrence. Hooper showed up to preach a funeral wearing it, which made the mood even more somber. However, why is it more accepted at the funeral?  He then wore the veil to a wedding. What did it do to the atmosphere of the wedding? What did it cause people to think about the marriage?  The veil even upset Mister Hooper as it led him to run from the wedding when he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. So why continue to wear it?

The fallout  The town could talk of nothing else. Could this have been the goal? Why?  No one would outright ask him his reasons for wearing it. Why?  The church sent a group to talk to him. But, when they were sitting in front of the veil they panicked and could not do it.  No one likes the veil but, at the same time, no one has the courage to directly address the minister about it.

One person has a chance…  His “plighted wife” Elizabeth may be able to get answers.  “There is an hour to come…when all of us shall cast aside our veils” (641).  He keeps referring to the veil as a symbol…a symbol of what?  Is he really the one hiding “under the consciousness of secret sin” (641)?  What ultimatum does Elizabeth give? What is Hooper’s response?

a lonely life  The veil completely isolated Hooper from the rest of the world; no one wanted to be around him.  Some saw it as an “eccentric whim” (642).  The veil did make him a very efficient preacher; give some examples.  He was a beloved preacher, though unloved. He was feared, though the first person called when someone was sick or dying.  Respected, but…

The truth is revealed  “he had one congregation in the church, and a more crowded one in the church-yard” (643).  Elizabeth nurses him on his death bed; she never married.  Mister Clark begs Hooper to let him remove the veil so he doesn’t face judgment with a black mark against him.  Hooper won’t let them remove it; he says HE sees a black veil on every face. Why?  Why do the townspeople bury him in the veil?