The Ministers Black Veil

1646 Words7 Pages
Maass, Parker Professor Ewell English 308W 22 February 2011 The Ministers Black Veil Analysis In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story The Minister’s Black Veil, it is very difficult to extract what the meaning of the story is as well as what the minister’s veil itself represents. In Hawthorne’s tale, we can find paradoxes, contradictions, as well as ambiguities littered throughout the story; but still no direct meaning is given. Even upon his deathbed, Mr. Hooper refuses to have the veil removed from his brow in hopes to make a point to everyone who had seen or heard about this mysterious garment. Even when approached from different angles and placed under different scopes, no true meaning can be found as to why Mr. Hooper vows to wear the veil for the rest of his life. The first and the most obvious ambiguity of the story is the fact that Mr. Hooper, a well liked and well known man of God, has chosen to wear a veil. A veil is a customary article of clothing worn by women. Strange and shocking, it is clear that the minister is trying to put up a blockade between him and something else. With everyone in his congregation befuddled and stirred up at the first couple of sightings of a minister wearing a veil, no questions are asked and rather multiple assumptions are made by the townspeople. With so much talk and confusion being drawn towards this article of clothing, Hawthorne is able to add to the intensity of the reasoning of the veil. The second ambiguity observed in this story is the meaning of the color of the veil that Mr. Hooper has chosen to wear, black. Black, a color generally known to represent anything from darkness to evil and death, has been chosen to be worn by a minister, a man whose job is to shed the light of Christ upon his followers. It is noticed that while leading the services at a wedding the veil seems to be the most prominent aspect of the
Open Document