Thursday 13 May 2010

Besides the veil on Mr. Hooper's face, what other references to other types of veils are mentioned in the story "The Minister's Black Veil"? What does...

I believe you are
referring to 's short story, "." In this story, in addition to Mr. Hooper's veil,
another veil is referred to when the narrator describes the visitors at the young maiden's
funeral:

The people trembled, though they but darkly
understood him when he prayed that they, and himself, and all of mortal race, might be ready, as
he trusted this young maiden had been, for the dreadful hour that should snatch the veil from
their faces.

Now, of course, the people are not wearing
literal, physical, veils like Mr. Hooper's, and so we must consider what Mr. Hooper means when
he refers to the veils on their faces. His veil seems to represent some secret sinful nature, as
this is what he preaches about on the very first day he wears it, and the parishioners feel as
though he has discovered their secret sinfulness as well. We often try to hide the fact that we
are "sinners" or do bad or wrong things, but the fact is that we are human, and so we
do these things.

However we hide them from one another, though, we cannot
hide them from God. This seems to be confirmed with Mr. Hooper tells his fiancee that
"'There is an hour to come . . . when all of us shall cast aside our veils.'" Again,
he is the only one wearing a physical veil, and he seems to refer, here, to God's judgement
after one's death; in that moment, the individual cannot hide their sins anymore.


Later, after performing the wedding ceremony, Mr. Hooper catches a glimpse of his face
with the veil on it, in a mirror, and he is overwhelmed by horror. He rushes out into the night,
"For the Earth, too, had on her Black Veil," the narrator tells us. Here, the narrator
seems to refer to the nighttime, but it could also be that nighttime is when people often do bad
or sinful deeds, because the darkness shields them from others' eyes.

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