Black Veil

Christina Scandariato

ENG 2303

Professor Slayton

September 8, 2011

The Minister’s Black Veil

The Ministers Black Veil takes a bold stance against an issue that we all have to deal with; sin. From the time of Eve it is in our genetic makeup that we will all be sinners. It does not matter if you are a minister living in the small Puritan town of Milford during the first half of the eighteenth century or a student in a classroom in Austin, TX. in the year 2011. People have a variety of ways they address their sins throughout their lives. Some are known to conceal their sins in hopes that they will not be noticed, some act as if they have never existed and push past them in hopes that they will go away, others take a more traditional approach and turn to the church to confess them and believe they have been forgiven, then there are those that become consumed with guilt and it drives them crazy. The Puritans were preoccupied with sin, even the most church-attending Christians sinned constantly; they believed this would result in an eternity without God as they would not be allowed into heaven. They soon became consumed with the pervasiveness of sin; that through good acts they could deter their sinful nature and reject sin. Any sins that were committed were required to be confessed in the name of salvation. What was to become of the man who heard confessions daily but had no means to confess his own sin? He would have to find another means to address his own sins. Did Mr. Hooper take the path to conceal his sins in hopes that his community would not see him for the sinner he was, or would the guilt of his crimes against God cause him to do unthinkable things that only a mad man would do? The theme in this story that I chose to discuss is symbolism. As in many other works by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the story in The Ministers Black Veil is heavily reliant on symbols used as narrative devices. This essay will discuss the symbols used in this story and what I have...