The Minister's Black Veil Essay

Kira Ginter
Ricketts
English 10 Honors
19 January 2017
Literary Analysis: The Minister’s Black Veil Sins are a part of life and even if one would not like to admit it, everybody commits them. The more sins one commits, the more guilt they secretly feel. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil,” Reverend Hooper wears a black veil to signify sins. Hooper was a living analogy in the story. The use of the veil to represent sin is successful because it has the whole parish feeling uncomfortable in the same way that sins do. Sins are something that everyone commits, and it is intriguing to see how others react to the physical representation of sin.
Sins are mostly viewed as a bad thing, so others thinking that someone else is committing sins can be considered a great insult. Reverend Hooper began to wear a black veil that covers his face to represent sin to his parishioners. The veil perfectly represents sin because people who are around it are generally judgemental of it and feel uncomfortable around it. “‘I don't like it,’ muttered an old woman, as she hobbled into the meeting-house. ‘He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face’” (Hawthorne 460). The veil is a good representation of sin because as soon as people see it

Hooper” (Hawthorne 461). When the Reverend gives his sermon about the veil, everyone feels that each word is being spoken directly to them. This shows how they all have committed sins and that some may even be feeling guilty for what they have done. The Reverend used the veil to represent what sins can do to people. The people listening to the sermon had a feeling that he was talking directly to them, showing how the Reverend is not the only one who should be being judged. Everyone commits sins and they are a very well known subject, but some people feel that their sins are a private