Collections grade 11 guiding questions collection 3 the minister's black veil what details hin at a meaningof the black veil that is unique to this story

"The Minister´s Black Veil" is a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne and it was first published in 1832. The text narrates the events that take place in a Puritan town, where the pastor, Reverend Hooper suddenly begins to appear before his congregation and the townspeople wearing a black semi-transparent black veil that conceals his eyes and most of his face, except for his mouth and chin. Although people try to ask him why he uses that veil, and some of those closest to him try to reveal the secret behind the veil, no one, not even Reverend Hooper´s own fiancé, Elizabeth is every able to know. In the end, the Revered dies still wearing his veil.

Althoug many critics have tried to ascertain the true meaning behind the veil, Hawthorne never actually explains it, making people understand that the meaning behind it is given by each reader as he/she understands the story. However, some have said that this veil represents secret sin and the darkest secrets of a human soul, which are worn for the world to see and that become a barrier between the outside world and the human heart inside.

Maybe one of the clearest example of this in the text itself is when the Reverend goes up to the pulpit to preach his sermon on secret sin. Then also on two other ocassions, when the Reverend presides over the funeral of a woman from the town and some people think they are able to see the spirits of the Revered and the woman walking together and finally during a wedding, when, even though the time is joyous, still the Reverend will not remove his veil.

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