In the romantic short story, “ The Ministers Black Veil,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne Mr. Hooper, the minister, transforms from a well-loved minister to a man nobody wants to be around. People and even children who used to look up to the man are now afraid of the minister because of one simple factor. He begins to wear a black veil that is mysterious and creepy he gains a negative reputation. People start to stay away from him and are scared to even have a conversation with Mr.Hooper, and because of this he is very lonely for the rest of his life. However there is more than to Mr.Hooper being a veiled minister.
THE SEXTON stood in the porch of Milford meeting-house, pulling busily at the bell-rope. The old people of the village came stooping…
Hoopers dying words: everyone has a secret sin that is hidden from all others. The veil, he says, is but a symbol of the masks of deceit and sin that separate all individuals from truly facing themselves, their loved ones, and the divine spirit. All individuals wear such a mask, and Mr. Hoopers veil has been only a symbolic reminder of a truth that most are unwilling to admit. Mr. Hooper pays a high price for this lesson: he is feared, misunderstood, and left to live a lonely, solitary life…
Mr. Hooper’s veil was just a reminder of the sin we so deeply keep a secret because we cannot force ourselves to admit it.
Another theme found in an article online on the website ebsco has another theme that comes out of The Minister’s Black Veil,
Most commentators, however, perceive far greater complexity behind the seemingly simple “parable,” as Hawthorne himself called it. Some view the major theme as the psychological power of guilt, and the minister as a mentally and emotionally unstable man who is driven to make visible his guilt for reasons that may or may not be revealed in the story (Alexander, Amy)
That the veil was really just to hide the guilt for an action that Mr. Hooper had committed. Not to be symbolic or anything, but just that the minister has committed a sin that the author does not…
