The Minister's Black Viel

At the beginning of this story you would not guess it would turn out to be such an eerie and dark story. At first Nathaniel Hawthorne was describing the Sabbath day. Everyone in the town was gathering to take part in mass, "Children, with bright faces, tripped merrily beside their parents, or mimicked a graver gait, in the conscious dignity of their Sunday clothes. Spruce bachelors looked sidelong at the pretty maidens, and fancied that the Sabbath sunshine made them prettier than on week days." (Hawthorne) From this first glimpse it seems that it would be a typical romanticism story since it was describing the scene in such a happy way. But soon after the setting changes a bit and becomes very dark and odd. When Mr. Hooper shows up the mood drastically changes. Everyone was scared of the view of Hooper with the black viel covering his face. This is a characteristic of dark romanticism, fear. So everyone assumes there has to be something going on with Hooper. Some say he was mad others think he committed a crime so awful he could not show his face. But whatever is was Hooper must have had a reason to do it and what the reason was it is hard to say. In my opinion Hooper was trying to teach people and use the viel as a symbol. The viel stood for sin. Even a minister like himself is not perfect and does make bad or wrong decisions. Just because people see him as a holy man doesn't mean that he is one. People were looking at him from the outside and did not see his true inside. That is why he put on the viel as a way to mask what people set their minds to see and to see what was really there, which was sin. In the Puritan days people believed only a select few would make it to heaven and Hooper was trying to show they he may not even be one that will make it to heaven. It was a way to change the way people thought and mess with them mentally. It sure did mess with people's heads. They began to think horrible things just because of the mans appearance. "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. Hooper's 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." (Cengage) He sacrificed his life of happiness just to have people learn. Elizabeth who actually loved him let the viel get in the way of her feelings. This caused Hooper to feel alone and left Elizabeth confused. She mentally was confused and scared of the man she once found comfort in. She also represnets a character of the dark romanaticism period because she has fear.

Hawthorne, National. "The Minister's Black Veil." Glencoe Literature. By Jeffery D. Wilhelm. and Douglas Fisher. Vol.American English. New York: Glencoe McGraw Hill, 2009. 278-289. Print.

Cengage, Cale. "Short Story Critism: The Minister's Black Veil." Enotes. 2000. Web.