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What Does The Minister's Black Veil Symbolize

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Popes and pastors alike often like to say that God knows of all sins and is always watching over humans, even when they are in the bathroom because everyone sins. This idea echoes in the exceptionally popular short story, “The Minister’s Black Veil,” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, where a popular young minister, Reverend Hooper, suddenly shows up to Sunday service with a veil over his face, giving no explanation as to why. In “The Minister’s Black Veil,” Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the symbolism of the black veil, the symbolism of the minister, as well as the irony of Reverend Hooper’s preachings in contrast to his actions, to illustrate that everyone is a sinner, whether they decide to confront their sins or not.
To elaborate, Hawthorne uses …show more content…

They cannot look at him without seeing the veil, and thus seeing their own sins staring back at them, so they avoid him and no longer treat him with the same kindness and openness from the past. The article "Beyond the Veil: A Reading of Hawthorne’s ‘The Minister’s Black Veil’,” by Elaine Barry further supports this view. Barry claims that “the veil…incorporates the paradox of Mr Hooper's role in the story so that he is simultaneously the black veil and sin.” (125) Barry is claiming that the veil brings in a paradox, which is a statement or situation that may be true but seems impossible or difficult to understand because it contains two opposite facts or characteristics, between the minister and the black veil. This paradox that Barry is referencing is that the black veil represents secret sin, and that the minister represents secret sin while also representing the black veil. While it may seem impossible that a man can represent a piece of cloth, which is where the paradox makes its appearance, it is what the cloth represents that makes the paradox understandable. The minister makes the black veil represent sin by hiding his face and preaching about the secret sins his parishioners hide, but since the minister is the one who wears the black veil, he also becomes the symbol of sin and in turn becomes the black

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