What I took from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil.”

The Minister’s Black Veil provided a question that stood out to me. “How can we judge others for our sins if we can’t face our own?” 

In Nathaniel’s short story where he uses a minister to play on the condemnation of human conditions, I saw that he used the reactions of the townspeople to show how humanity gets uncomfortable when others’ faults reflect our insecurity. The people’s opinions contributed to the reality of society and that helped deepen my understanding. 

For context, I’ll give a brief summary of what the story is about. 

 The Minister’s Black Veil takes place in a small town where gossip travels quickly, and the people use each other’s imperfections to place themselves on a higher pedestal. Mr. Hooper is the presenting character, and he is also the town’s reverend. Which was pointed out to be quite remarkable as “Mr. Hooper, a gentlemanly person of about thirty, though still a bachelor…” which was intriguing in the eyes of the people.  

In the story Mr. Hooper goes to be the priest at a funeral, which he very first reveals his new identity with the veil. This is also where I first see some of the answers to the question I focused on earlier. 

At this funeral the narrator points out the opinions the people have about Mr.  Hooper as a reverend.  Some felt uncomfortable, for example one person said, “I can’t really feel as if good, Mr. Hooper’s face was behind that piece of crape.”  

Then there was a woman who expressed that Mr. Hooper making the choice of wearing the veil was inappropriate by saying “I don’t like it,” muttered an old woman, as she hobbled into the meetinghouse. “He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face.”  There were more of these opinions, a lot of the people in the church saying that Mr. Hooper has basically gone crazy.  

To me, that statement was ironic in spite of the fact that the people were having these dramatic reactions because a man just decided to wear a veil.  But what if that’s it?  What if their reactions were normal? Maybe we would have all felt the same if we started seeing ghosts the day Mr.  Hooper walked in with a statement. 

During that funeral there were just comments of disdain and disappointment.  Everyone just speculated about Mr. Hooper, but none of them said anything to his face.  They didn’t ask him why he was wearing the veil. I believed it was because they couldn’t see his face.  From that whole scene there was a reflection of society in reality when things are questioned, and gossip is stirred. The townsfolk were like gossiping schoolgirls, they didn’t even attempt to ask about his intentions, since they couldn’t see his face, I think that meant he had no right to reflect on his own purpose with them. 

People’s faces and minds can be considered as veils. They hide our inner thoughts and our inner intentions.  For some, those could be things that could be distasteful to others.  But we also use our facial expressions to conceal our judgment.  I mean, there are people who can smile in the face of their enemy. “But can some people interpret a face?  You may ask.  And that answer is, “Well, of course!” And with that in mind, there’s some people who raise their eyebrows when people cry. When someone reflects your inner pain, you may find yourself uncomfortable too. 

There was a woman who said that she saw Mr. Hooper in hands with the spirit of a deceased girl at the wedding which came after the funeral.  It wasn’t true.  He most definitely wasn’t prancing around with a deceased girl.  That point in the plot though was showing what the people were judging him for.  And spoiler, it was just speculation! 

Mr. Hooper was just doing his sad preaching, but the woman started a rumor which spread.  And I guess by that point, they just had a collective delusion. That delusion was disguising their own faults, as long as they focused on Mr. Hooper’s.   

The day after that, people everywhere talked about the veil. Which to all the mothers, pastors, and children was more than just a piece of cloth hanging down his face, but instead a symbol from his heart that resembled a fearful secret between him and them.  

That secret, to me, has to deal with their own personal self – struggle and now it feels like their reverend is mourning their soul because their personal self-guilt is eating them up inside.   I know that just got dark, but I mean- 

Listen!  This is how bad this got! (Mr. Hooper and his self-reflecting veil.) 

In the middle of the short story Mr. Hooper went back to his home to his wife, Elizabeth.  After some commentary they basically have this discussion about the veil of course.  She told him that she thinks that if he must wear that mask then he shouldn’t wear it in public then she asked if she could see his face and he explain how it all started. 

He didn’t take it off, but he did hint that one of the reasons he was wearing a veil was because everyone wears a veil every day.  His veil was just visible.   

Elizabeth didn’t think that was a good enough reason, so with a sorrowful farewell. 
She left Mr. Hooper hidden under his dark veil. 

To sum up what happened after that, I’m going to provide this statement from the story, 

“In this manner Mr. Hooper spent a long life, irreproachable in outward act, yet shrouded in dismal suspicions; kind and loving, though unloved, and dimly feared; a man apart from men, shunned in their health and joy, but ever summoned to their aid in mortal anguish. As years wore on, shedding their snows above his sable veil, he acquired a name throughout the New England churches, and they called him Father Hooper. Nearly all his parishioners, who were of mature age when he was settled, had been borne away by many a funeral: He had one congregation in the church, and a more crowded one in the churchyard; and having wrought so late into the evening, and done his work so well, it was now good Father Hooper’s turn to rest” 

Mr. Hooper passed while still wearing that veil.   Before he died though, he gave a monologue with his final breaths that basically called out everyone who made him as if he’s a monster all because he wears his sins on his face.  But there will be a day when everyone has to take off their visage. 

So, yea, what I got from this short story is that basically judging others so we wouldn’t have to judge ourselves is a big thing in the world. It’s so bad we even make each other seem as if we’re monsters, but we are all monsters deep down. 

I read this story in ninth grade, and didn’t fully understand it at first. So, it was interesting getting this refresher after I just randomly thought about this while looking out the window one day.