The Theme Of Sacrifice In The Minister's Black Veil

“Thus from beneath the black veil, there rolled a cloud into the sunshine, an ambiguity of sin or sorrow, which enveloped the poor minister, so that love or sympathy could never reach him.” (Hawthorne). In the Minister’s Black Veil, Nathaniel Hawthorne evokes the idea there is a dark side of humanity and that humans have secrets and sins hidden away from their nearest and dearest. In the parable, Hawthorne emphasizes the idea of personal sacrifices must be made during one’s lifetime for those you love even if it meant giving up one’s source of happiness. In Milford, a small Puritan town men, women, and children are fancying another Sunday. The peace is interrupted on the Sabbath day when Reverend Hooper, Minister of the Puritan Community appears

Hooper’s sacrifice acknowledges that sin comes at a high price, as he wore the veil, he isolated himself from the Puritan society and no longer accepted him as that was advent. The theme of the Minister’s Black Veil is that everyone has a secret sin, dying from others and that no one person can escape sin. “The subject had reference to secret sin, and those sad mysteries which we hide from our nearest and dearest, and would fain conceal from our own consciousness, even forgetting that the Omniscient can detect them” (Hawthorne). Reverend Hooper wears the black veil to communicate to his congregation and acknowledge that he has sinned. He sacrifices himself by wearing the black veil to recognize the sins committed by himself and the others townspeople; coming to terms with bad sins and remaining as part of humanity. People of the time pushed their sinful thinking aside and choose to ignore the bad and sin in themselves. Many chose to ignore the fact their human. Everyone wears the veil, but remains unaware due to the ignorance of the possibility they are sinners. In wearing the veil, Hooper coneys that humanity encompasses many types of sins that can not be