Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil"

Journal #5
Posted By Melissa Veum
10-06-09
Engl 48A

"All through life that piece of crape had hung between him and the world:it had separated him from cheerful brotherhood and woman's love, and kept him in that saddest of all prisons, his own heart; and still it lay upon his face, as if to deepen the gloom of his darksome chamber, and shade him from the sunshine of eternity (Hawthorne, 1319)."

"Words -- so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them (Hawthorne,quotationspage.com)."

In this passage I feel that Hawthorne is trying to "show" us the meaning behind the veil Mr. Hooper wears throughout his life. It says that the crape of fabric was between himself and the entire world all of his life. It was definitely a type of shield. Shielding his soul, so that no one could look in or maybe shielding the look on his face of his own repence. The passage talks about how the crape kept him in his own sad prison; inside his heart and soul. The only things about a person that no one else can see, only by way of facial expressions and types of movement and personalities people have. I think that Mr. Hooper did not anyone to see his original sins and even though everybody has them, no one broadcasts it all over their face like Mr. Hooper did with his veil.

I do believe that Hawthorne is trying to "deepen the gloom of his darksome chamber" by wearing the veil covering practically his entire face and not really talking about his sins all together but by showing everyone that we all have sins, he just chooses to show his by means of covering his face. The one thing everyone sees first when they meet you, the emotion and spirit of yourself is always painted on your face no matter what, it's hard to hide, but Mr. Hooper does the job by advertising that he does have sins just like everybody else. I think he goes to these extremes to show others that you have to not hide behind your original sin, we all have them.