The Minister's Black Veil

“It was tinged, rather more darkly than usual, with the gentle gloom of Mr. Hooper’s temperament. 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. A subtle power was breathed into his words.”

On the first day he wears the veil, Mr. Hooper’s sermon laments that people hide their sin from each other when God sees it all. The people see the sermon as exceptionally powerful, and their appreciation suggests they recognize their own secret sin; however, their shunning him socially afterward suggests they refuse to face it. The people’s belief that Mr. Hooper’s quality as a preacher is affected by the veil reinforces the emphasis they place on appearance. 

“None, as on former occasions, aspired to the honor of walking by their pastor’s side. Old Squire Saunders, doubtless by an accidental lapse of memory, neglected to invite Mr. Hooper to his table, where the good clergyman had been wont to bless the food, almost every Sunday since his settlement.”

Though the people see Mr. Hooper as a more powerful preacher now that he wears the veil, they are fearful of the veil and begin to alienate him. They also avoid him on the street, and children mock him in their games. They speculate that the veil is penance for his own great sin and that he is able to commune with ghosts. The people’s shunning of Mr. Hooper illustrates their unwillingness or inability to face their own secret sin, thus validating Mr. Hooper’s claim that we “conceal” our sins even “from our own consciousness” (3). It also reinforces their belief that the state of one’s soul was visible in one’s appearance or behavior.

“‘Truly do I,’ replied the lady; ‘and I would not be alone with him for the world. I wonder he is not afraid to be alone with himself!’ ‘Men sometimes are so,’ said her husband.” 

The residents of Milford gossip about Mr. Hooper, speculating on the meaning of his veil. In this passage, the husband’s acknowledgement that most men are afraid to be alone with themselves indicates that, unlike many of the other residents, he interprets the veil as representing Original Sin or the sin in all of us, not only in Mr. Hooper. People’s refusal to grapple with their own sins and failings is reaffirmed when the people, concluding the veil represents Mr. Hooper’s personal sin, shun him for the rest of his life, thus rejecting the vision of their own secret sins.

“A sad smile gleamed faintly from beneath the black veil, and flickered about his mouth, glimmering as he disappeared.” 

Mr. Hooper frequently smiles a sad or melancholy smile when questioned about the meaning of the veil or when officiating ceremonies. The smile seems to suggest sadness in the people’s state of secret sin. However, it can also suggest superiority or condescension. Mr. Hooper is assured of his own superior morality and seems to lament the people’s lack of understanding. Ironically, in attempting to teach a lesson about secret sin, Mr. Hooper exhibits his own sin, that of pride or arrogance. Mr. Hooper’s refusal to reveal the meaning of the veil, which prevents the people from learning from it, further reveals that the veil is perhaps meant, at least in part, to demonstrate Mr. Hooper’s own godliness. 

“The people trembled, though they but darkly understood him when he prayed that they, and himself, and all of mortal race, might be ready, as he trusted this young maiden had been, for the dreadful hour that should snatch the veil from their faces.” 

At the funeral of a young woman, Mr. Hooper, wearing his veil, states his hope that that the people will be ready, at their own deaths, for their secret sins to be revealed to God—for their veils to be lifted from their faces. This statement reaffirms that the veil is meant to signify the sin that we hide from each other but that we cannot hide from God. Mr. Hooper is subtly chastising the people for believing they can hide their sins. He is saying that even though the people avoid acknowledging their sins now—as will be evidenced by their rejection of him—they will not be able to deny their sins for eternity.

“After performing the ceremony, Mr. Hooper raised a glass of wine to his lips, wishing happiness to the new-married couple in a strain of mild pleasantry that ought to have brightened the features of the guests, like a cheerful gleam from the hearth. At that instant, catching a glimpse of his figure in the looking-glass, the black veil involved his own spirit in the horror with which it overwhelmed all others. His frame shuddered, his lips grew white, he spilt the untasted wine upon the carpet, and rushed forth into the darkness. For the Earth, too, had on her Black Veil.” 

Mr. Hooper performs a wedding ceremony while wearing the black veil, and the “gloom” of the veil dampens the mood at what would otherwise be a joyous event. Though the reason is not explicitly stated, the fear he feels at the sight of his own reflection is likely the result of his acknowledging of the secret sin in all humans, including in himself—something the residents of Milford refuse to do. His horror at the vision of himself is the result of his being forced by the veil to confront his own sins. Thus, the veil, though it separates himself from other people, brings him closer to the sinful part of himself. Mr. Hooper’s fright at his own reflection also may indicate that he foresees the loneliness of his future. The narrator’s reflection that “the Earth, too, had on her Black Veil” shows how all people—the minister, the people of Milford, and others—are marred by sin.

“‘There is an hour to come,’ said he, “when all of us shall cast aside our veils. Take it not amiss, beloved friend, if I wear this piece of crape till then.’” 

Elizabeth, Mr. Hooper’s fiancée, asks Mr. Hooper to remove the veil, but Mr. Hooper merely smiles and tells her that he will wear the veil until the time when all their veils will be removed—in other words, upon their deaths, when they will meet God, who knows all their sins. Mr. Hooper’s assertion that the veil will be removed in eternal life—that his sins will be revealed—shows how he will deny himself earthly joy, which he sees as less important than eternal reward. 

“The color rose into her cheeks as she intimated the nature of the rumors that were already abroad in the village. But Mr. Hooper’s mildness did not forsake him. He even smiled again—that same sad smile, which always appeared like a faint glimmering of light, proceeding from the obscurity beneath the veil.” 

Elizabeth attempts to inspire Mr. Hooper to reveal to her the meaning of the veil. She does so in part by asking him what he will do “if the world will not believe that it is the type of an innocent sorrow” (8). She worries that rumors may arise, and her blush reveals that these rumors are already spreading. Elizabeth, like the other residents, is fixated on appearance—in this case, on gossip and reputation. Mr. Hooper’s sad smile again suggests condescension at the people’s petty concern with the “mortal” rather than the eternal.

“‘Have patience with me, Elizabeth!’ cried he, passionately. ‘Do not desert me, though this veil must be between us here on earth. Be mine, and hereafter there shall be no veil over my face, no darkness between our souls! It is but a mortal veil—it is not for eternity! O! you know not how lonely I am, and how frightened, to be alone behind my black veil. Do not leave me in this miserable obscurity forever!’” 

Mr. Hooper understands that his wearing the veil will result in his being ostracized by the people, and he begs Elizabeth not to shun him like the other residents of Milford. He claims that the veil will separate them only on Earth, for their sins will be revealed in eternity. Mr. Hooper’s fear at his own black veil is perhaps the result not only of his inevitable loneliness but also of his own sin, of which the veil is a constant reminder.

“But, even amid his grief, Mr. Hooper smiled to think that only a material emblem had separated him from happiness, though the horrors, which it shadowed forth, must be drawn darkly between the fondest of lovers.”

When Elizabeth leaves him, Mr. Hooper muses how something as simple as a piece of black cloth has prevented his mortal happiness and how this cloth represents the way even the closest of lovers are kept apart by their secret sins. His smile, as it does throughout the story, suggests that despite his sadness, he is proud of his superior understanding and of his own assured salvation.

“A fable went the rounds that the stare of the dead people drove him thence. It grieved him, to the very depth of his kind heart, to observe how the children fled from his approach, breaking up their merriest sports, while his melancholy figure was yet afar off.”

The people, rather than acknowledge that the veil is a symbol for all their sin, assume it represents a sin unique to Mr. Hooper. In this passage, they speculate that his interest in visiting the cemetery is the result of his consorting with the dead. This passage also shows Mr. Hooper’s sadness upon being ostracized. His choosing to be ostracized rather than to remove the veil indicates that he is willing to sacrifice all earthly joy in favor of eternal reward.

“Among all its bad influences, the black veil had the one desirable effect, of making its wearer a very efficient clergyman. By the aid of his mysterious emblem—for there was no other apparent cause—he became a man of awful power over souls that were in agony for sin. His converts always regarded him with a dread peculiar to themselves, affirming, though but figuratively, that, before he brought them to celestial light, they had been with him behind the black veil. Its gloom, indeed, enabled him to sympathize with all dark affections.” 

Despite their fear of the veil, the residents of Milford continue to feel that wearing it makes Mr. Hooper more effective, for he can relate to them in their own sin. The people’s belief that Mr. Hooper’s veil improves his ability as a preacher is a comment on the importance Puritans placed on outward appearance. The veil is a mere symbol of the sin, rather than the sin itself, suggesting the people’s fixation is superficial and misplaced. Also, it shows their continued misreading of the veil as representing only Mr. Hooper’s own personal sin.

“‘Why do you tremble at me alone?’ cried he, turning his veiled face round the circle of pale spectators. ‘Tremble also at each other! Have men avoided me, and women shown no pity, and children screamed and fled, only for my black veil? What, but the mystery which it obscurely typifies, has made this piece of crape so awful? When the friend shows his inmost heart to his friend; the lover to his best beloved; when man does not vainly shrink from the eye of his Creator, loathsomely treasuring up the secret of his sin; then deem me a monster, for the symbol beneath which I have lived, I look around me, and, lo! on every visage a Black Veil!’” 

As Mr. Hooper lays dying, he acknowledges the pain he has felt at his isolation. Mr. Hooper’s choice to wait until this moment to reveal his pain begs the question of why he chose to hide this lesson when the people could have benefited from it during his life. It reinforces the pride he has felt in his own salvation and superiority, which is ironic given his chastisement of the people’s secrecy.