The Minister’s Black Veil is a short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne and published for the first time in 1836. A prominent author of the Dark Romanticism movement, Hawthorne primarily confronts themes of morality and religion in his works. The Minister’s Black Veil follows the actions of Reverend Hooper of the small village of Milford in New England. One day, for some mysterious reason, the minister starts wearing a black veil to cover his face. The text traces the events and questions that follow.
The Minister’s Black Veil | Summary
The story opens with the sexton (the caretaker of the parish buildings and church equipment) of the Milford meeting house awaiting the attendants and pastor of that Sunday’s service. When the sexton and other church officials see Reverend Hooper arrive, they are confused, wondering whether who they are seeing is indeed him. There seems to be a black veil upon the reverend’s face and it quickly turns into a topic of discussion among the attendants.
Reverend Hooper seems unconcerned by the chatter and curiosity around him. People seem to be so bewildered by his veil that some women of ‘delicate nerves’ even leave the service, while others appear quite afraid. Mr. Hooper is described as a good preacher, preferring persuasive appeal over thunderous words. However, the narrator comments that his sermon that morning was tinged with darker emotions, delving into topics of sins and hidden truths. The audience appears to be both amazed and afraid by his words, almost as if they struck a personal chord and unraveled some deep secrets. Everyone has their own interpretation of the day’s events. Mr. Hooper remains unaffected. He carries on his usual business, and leaves for his residence soon after, as people continue to wonder what is amiss with their minister.
The scene shifts into the afternoon, where a funeral service is to be held for a young lady. Mr. Hooper is still in his veil, though now it seems appropriate for the occasion. As the near and dear gather for the service, the clergymen begin with their prayers. The narrator writes that as Mr. Hooper bent down over the coffin, his face may have become visible to the dead for a second before he quickly covered it again. An old lady comments that she saw the body shudder even with its eyes closed when Mr. Hooper’s veil was momentarily lifted. The funeral prayer appears to have shaken the people even more, as Mr. Hooper asked that everyone must be prepared for the end hour when everyone’s veils are snatched from their faces. A few attendants remarked that they saw the spirits of Mr. Hooper and the dead lady walk hand in hand.
In the night, a wedding is in procession, an occasion which would usually invite cheerfulness even from a ‘melancholy man’ like Mr. Hooper. Yet, as the ceremony began, people were disappointed to see Mr. Hooper still donning the black veil. The narrator remarks that the bride was so afraid that she looked as dead as the young lady from the afternoon. Following the ceremony, Mr. Hooper raised a glass to the new couple, yet as he took a sip and saw his reflection in the glass, he seemed to be as appalled as the others by seeing himself. He spit the wine and left the room.
By the next day, the whole village was taken up on the issue of the minister’s veil and the mystery behind it. However, no one seemed to be able to approach Mr. Hooper with the questions. Eventually, a deputation is assembled to deal with the issue before it may escalate into a scandal. They attempt to talk to the minister, who besides courtesy, remains quiet. While the topic of discussion seems obvious enough, everyone sits speechless. To the others, the veil doesn’t merely cover his mouth, but also places a wall between his heart and the others, making it difficult for them to converse freely.
The minister’s wife, Elizabeth, is more adamant on learning the truth. She approaches the topic directly but only receives confusing answers in return. The minister reiterates that he will never take off the veil in front of a mortal, not even her and that it is a sign of mourning or dark sorrows. All of Elizabeth’s attempts at reasoning fail. Confused and saddened, she decides to leave. The minister requests her to not abandon him to loneliness, as the veil only exists between their bodies on this earth, and not between their souls. However, upon seeing his refusal to lift the veil even once, she leaves.
After that, no one seems to be able to approach Mr. Hooper to discuss the issue, though the rumors grow. The minister is pained by his melancholic and fearsome image and continues to be afraid of his own appearance. However, the veil seems to have turned him into a very effective pastor, his ‘mysterious emblem’ had enabled agonized souls to sympathize with darker afflictions. Mr. Hooper lived a long life, being understood and treated as a symbol of some incomprehensible darkness, acquiring a name all across New England as the years passed. When he lay on his deathbed, many were around in the chambers. His ex-wife Elizabeth, and Revered Clark of Westbury tended to him, as the veil covered his face even in his last moments.
Reverend Clark wished to convince him otherwise, asking him to cast away this veil before the veil of eternity is lifted at his death, but such was his insistence that the frail old man held onto the veil with all his strength and refused to let it go. He even stood up and told those around him that instead of trembling at him for his outward veil, they must learn to tremble at each other for the sins they hide, before he fell down and passed away and the minister was buried with the veil intact on his face.
The author ends the story with a note that a clergyman in New England had done a similar thing, apparently for a different reason. He had accidentally killed his friend in his youth and had since then worn a veil over his face until his death.
The Minister’s Black Veil | Analysis
Interpretations of the text usually derive from an assessment of what the minister’s act of self-veiling truly signifies. A host of scholars locate this work by Hawthorne in the context of nineteenth-century existentialism and his evolving experiences with Puritanism. According to Hawthorne the ‘state of innocence’ was an illusion and that everyone has evil tendencies or committed sins. Those who do not understand this live with unrealistic ethics and dishonest spirituality. Humans must be initiated into evil, in the sense that they must understand and accept the evil that lies within, and become mature enough to live with it, without it turning them into morally disintegrated individuals. The recognition of sin and evil leads to a higher form of unity with their fellow men, as no one is morally superior to others. Then perhaps, Hawthorne’s hero in this work is one who seeks to do this, by recognizing and presenting his own evil through the veil, in order to have others reconsider their own morals.
Other scholars also analyze the minister not as a hero, but as one who is committing penance for some great sin he has committed. Edgar Allan Poe’s interpretation of the minister as having committed adultery with the dead young girl, hence explaining his refusal to show his face even to his wife, is an early and important interpretation of this type. The text may also be read as a study of social isolation. The minister was an individual who on his own will cut himself off from this world. While he insists that his wife may not leave him alone and is pained by the fact that children are afraid of him, he refuses to make any changes that could avoid such consequences. He chooses the veil to hide himself from the world and to only view the world from its blackness, through a negativity that justifies his isolation. It may be read as a story of alienation wherein the minister’s inability to and anxiety over defining himself and the other churchgoers leads to the creation of ill-defined dichotomies (between himself who has revealed his true self and the others who still hide it) that he rigidly follows by donning the veil.
There is an inherent confusion on the meaning and purpose of the veil, does it mean to hide or reveal? If the minister is revealing his inner secrets, what is it that he hides behind it that leaves him frightened and lonely? Such considerations have led critics to seek an understanding of the value of meaning as a concept in the text itself, beyond a mere analysis of the moral implications of the symbolism. Drawing correlations between Hawthorne’s career trajectory, writing style, and the contents of this particular text, scholars have sought to argue that the symbol of the veil doesn’t just hide sins, morality, or any specific underlying theme, but rather shrouds meaning and interpretation in general. According to scholars, the absence of context and continued confusion around the veil in the text is representative of the loss of meaning, perhaps reflective of the author’s own confusion or unwillingness to establish meaning. The author uses the symbol of the veil to shadow his ambiguity over meaning and morality by providing the text with ‘as the reader interprets’ narrative and ending.
Scholars have also remarked that an interesting analysis of the text may be located in the reversal of meaning and function. The veil which is meant to hide something, that the reverend refuses to show on this earth until the very end, instead becomes a means of revelation. It reveals the inner turmoil Reverend Hooper is facing while also revealing the frail state of morality in those who are afraid of the veil and its implications. For Reverend Hooper personally, the veil is also a medium to convey to others that they must introspect upon their own inner darkness, sins, and secrets, yet, he himself refuses to face his darkness. He avoids reflective surfaces and is afraid of seeing his own appearance. The event of the funeral is transformed into one of union or marriage, as observers comment that they witnessed the souls of the minister and the dead girl walk together. The wedding on the other hand, with descriptions of the bride’s pale face and frail hands, and comparing her to the dead girl from before, appears to be a scene of death.
The Minister’s Black Veil | Themes
The idea of sin, especially hidden or secret sin, runs throughout the story. The first sermon that the minister delivers following his appearance in the black veil, is concerned with this issue. While he is described to have a gloomy disposition in general, his sermon that day is particularly dreary. He refers to ‘secret sins’ and ‘dark mysteries’ that one hides from everyone, even their own consciousness, despite the fact that they remain detectable to God.
Even in his conversation with his wife, while he claims that there is no veil between their souls, he refuses to lift his veil, as it hides dark sorrows that cannot be revealed to any mortal. In the end, when he’s dying, he still preaches to the onlookers that instead of being afraid of his insistence to not remove the veil even in death, they should be frightened of what sins they hide from each other deep inside themselves. The minister constantly reiterated the belief that everyone has veiled their sins, he merely shows his veil to the world, The veil is constantly conflated with a moment of revelation, as others continue to hide their secrets.
A connected theme is the idea that no matter how efficiently people wish to hide their sins, they will always be visible to the omniscient (God), something the minister mentions in his first speech and reiterates in the funeral sermon. He asks that everyone must prepare themselves, as the dead girl had, for the moment when this veil will be forcibly removed and everyone’s true selves will be revealed.
Guilt and subsequent alienation, therefore, also form an important subtext. He insists that everyone sins, hence if he typifies his sin through a veil it is normal. He also argues that if his veil may be viewed as a sign of mourning, there is a cause only he understands. The minister insists that he is choosing to reveal his sins, when in reality he only reveals the sin’s existence, not its nature or context, and therefore continues to hide. He doesn’t reveal what is the source of sin or sorrow, just that there is. He alienates himself by asserting that he’s different from those who hide their secrets on one level, however, on another level, he further alienates himself from his close ones by not revealing the cause of the guilt that has made him wear this veil. Perhaps feeling guilty and confused, the minister adopts the veil to project onto others his own uneasiness with morals and his actions.
Another important theme is the judgment that this minister faces throughout his life from the moment he dons the veil. Even before the minister gives his first sermon people have remarked on their distaste for the veil. They perceive it to be something dark and ill-fated. They appear to be so afraid of the veil that they find themselves unable to even open a discussion on the same with the minister. The minister appears to be unaffected by such judgments, explaining and criticizing them in his last moments as an act of hypocrisy. He asks others to worry about the sins they hide from each other and not the ones whose sorrow and secrets he keeps in his veil.
The Minister’s Black Veil | Title of the Story
The title of the story is a direct reference to the central plot point in the story, that is, the black veil that the minister wears and creates chaos. As it does in the main text, it is also a reference to the moral meaning of the veil, which is the hidden sins and secrets humans keep to themselves to maintain an image of spiritual purity and superiority.
The Minister’s Black Veil | Character Sketch
Reverend Hooper – The minister who wears the black veil is the central character of the story. He seems to be experiencing some sort of inner conflict that has convinced him that he must face the mortal world, always wearing a veil that signifies one’s inner sins and sorrows. He chooses to do so till his last few moments. The minister is a confusing character. He chooses to distance himself but fears loneliness, he dons a veil but refuses to see himself in it and while he is critical of others for hiding their sins he never reveals what his own sin is.
The Minister’s Black Veil | Literary Devices
The complete text is written as an allegory, with the minister’s veil signifying some grander meaning than what the naked eye reads. The overtones reflect the idea that the veil is a critical reflection of the moral spiritual status of the masses. Everyone commits sins and chooses to veil them. The minister chooses to externalize this concealment by vowing to wear a veil over his face.
‘If I hide my face for sorrow, there is cause enough,” he merely replied; “and if I cover it for secret sin, what mortal might not do the same?’
The text is also abundant in irony. The minister claims he has opened himself up to the world, by revealing his veil, he urges others to consider the same. Yet, he hides the true nature and details of his sin. Additionally, he creates the idea that he’s different from others because he chooses to reveal his sin. Despite this self-created artificial dichotomy, he feels lonely and requests his wife to not leave him.
‘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
Throughout the story, he appears to be unaffected by and nonchalant towards the behavior of others towards him from the point when he starts wearing the veil. However, in his last moments, he reveals the sadness and resentment that had pent up inside him.
‘Have men avoided me, and women showed 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 crape so awful?’
Another crucial point is the minister’s avoidance of his own reflection with the veil, despite his insistence on no mortal seeing him without the veil.
‘Know, then, this veil is a type and a symbol, and I am bound to wear it ever, both in light and darkness, in solitude and before the gaze of multitudes, and as with strangers, so with my familiar friends. No mortal eye will see it withdrawn.’
Besides, the author also occasionally uses metaphor, often to compare emotions to other changes.
‘Her eyes were fixed insensibly on the black veil, when, like a sudden twilight in the air, its terrors fell around her.‘
Symbolism is also an important part of the text. The minister himself calls the veil a symbol. It is supposed to be evidence of one’s inner sins and secrets which people hide. It may point towards the idea of sin in general or an individual sin the minister has committed, which caused a moral crisis and forced him to externalize his guilt. It serves as a physical and literary manifestation of people’s innermost mysteries, which the minister wishes to bring out in the open by wearing a black veil.
REFERENCES
Carnochan, W. B. “‘The Minister’s Black Veil’: Symbol, Meaning, and the Context of Hawthorne’s Art.” Nineteenth-Century Fiction, vol. 24, no. 2, 1969, pp. 182–92.
Santangelo, G. A. “The Absurdity of ‘The Minister’s Black Veil.’” Pacific Coast Philology, vol. 5, 1970, pp. 61–66.
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