Minister's Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne the

¶ … MINISTER'S BLACK VEIL" BY NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE The purpose of this paper is to discuss and analyze "The Minister's Black Veil," written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne's short story is deceptively simple. He tells the tale of a minister, Parson Hooper, who comes to church one Sunday wearing a black veil over his face. Nothing else about him has changed, but this veil frightens the worshippers, and sets off all kinds of rumors, including that Parson Hooper has gone mad.

"Such was the effect of this simple piece of crepe, that more than one woman of delicate nerves was forced to leave the meetinghouse. Yet perhaps the pale-faced congregation was almost as fearful a sight to the minister, as his black veil to them." As he preaches his sermon, the congregation seems to find this sermon special, and somehow it touches each one. Hawthorne says that Hooper was normally a rather "uninspired" preacher, and today was no exception, but the people perceive his words differently. They frighten many of them.

"Each member of the congregation, the most innocent girl, and the man of hardened breast, felt as if the preacher had crept upon them, behind his awful veil, and discovered their hoarded iniquity of deed or thought." Perhaps Hooper's words are hitting a little close to home, and people are seeing some of the things they cover up in their own lives, as Hooper covers his face with the veil.

After the service, he greets his flock as he normally would, but none of them want to be seen walking with him, so no one walks him home, which is unusual. "Old Squire Saunders, doubtless by an accidental lapse of memory, neglected to invite Mr.

Hooper to his table, where the good clergyman had been won't to bless the food, almost every Sunday since his settlement." Hooper understands their unease, and seems to pity them for it, as he goes to his parsonage, and gives them a "sad smile." He tells the woman that he loves, "Do not desert me, though this veil must be between us here on earth.

Be mine, and hereafter there shall be no veil over my face, no darkness between our souls! It is but a mortal veil -- it is not for eternity! O! you know not how lonely I am, and how frightened, to be alone behind my black veil. Do not leave me in this miserable obscurity forever!" She tells him that she cannot live with him that way, and he spends his life alone, always wearing the black veil.

As he goes about his life, he becomes more respected as a clergyman, but the people pretty much shun him. They begin to call him "Father Hooper." The people and his peers respect him, but he is still misunderstood. He spends most of his time alone. "From that time no attempts were made to remove Mr.

Hooper's black veil, or, by a direct appeal, to discover the secret which it was supposed to hide." No one, not any of those residents who were supposedly his friends, goes to the trouble of finding out what Hooper's motives are, they are fixated on the darkness of the veil, and forget about the man behind it. Even when he is on his deathbed, he will not remove the black veil. He does tell those gathered around him as he is dying, "Tremble also at each other.

Have men avoided me, and women shown no pity, and children screamed and fled, only for my black veil? What, but the mystery which it obscurely typifies, has made this piece of crepe so awful? When the friend shows his inmost heart to his friend; the lover to his best beloved; when man does not vainly shrink from the eye of his Creator, loathsomely treasuring up the secret of his sin; then deem me a monster, for the symbol beneath which I have lived, and die! I look around me, and, lo! On every visage a Black Veil." They bury him in his black veil, but the people do not forget him.

"The grass of many years has sprung up and withered on that grave, the burial stone is moss-grown, and good Mr. Hooper's face is dust; but awful is still the thought that it moldered beneath the Black Veil!" The people have gained an everlasting reminder that "Father Hooper" had the last laugh. Forever, he will be remembered for his black veil -- a vivid reminder to everyone that he knew they were sinners, and were all wearing their own "veils" each and every day.

CONCLUSION Hawthorne's story, and the veil itself, is a metaphor for all of our sins and transgressions. It is an example.