The Minister's Black Veil Themes
Puritanism
The minister’s black veil is set in a Puritan village in Massachusetts, and Puritanism is a dominant theme of the short story. The Puritans emerged as a sect of Christianity in England during the 1600s. However, the practice of the religion was soon banished since it sought to direct people away from the already established Christian denominations. The Puritans moved to New England, and there they formed strictly run communities that operated with Puritan values. They held that human beings were born in sin, something they had inherited from their progenitors, Adam and Eve. In their pursuit of a better relationship with God, Puritans discouraged behavior that didn’t indicate piety. They believed that their behavior was a manifestation of their inner nature, and so enforce behavior that indicated goodness.
Reverend Hooper espouses one of the core beliefs of the religion, which is a greater concern for their reward in heaven than living their life well on Earth. The short story is essentially a conflict between the strict puritan values of Reverend Hooper versus the lax adherence to Puritanism espoused by the villagers. Hooper attempts to remind his congregation that the almighty sees their sins through the symbol of the veil. However, the villages fail to understand that and instead come to believe that his veil represents sins that he is trying to hide from himself and the world.
It could also be argued that Reverend Hooper practices the sin of pride by setting himself so apart from his community through the use of the veil. However, Hooper is steadfast in his vow and refuses to remove the veil even when it comes to costing him love and companionship. His sight is always focused on the time of judgment rather than the present conditions of his life on earth.
Loneliness
Loneliness and isolation are dominant themes of The Minister’s Black Veil, since the veil that Harper donned caused him to become isolated from the world. Hooper expresses this himself during the conversation with his fiancé, Elizabeth. She refuses to marry him since he refuses to ever take off the veil, and it gains a fearful aspect in her perception of him. The loneliness that is forced upon Hooper is all the more tragic given his reputation as a kind and loving man. The villagers are unable to look past the veil to the man that lives beneath it and choose to separate themselves from him. Hooper attempts to explain that the veil is a symbol of the secret sin and guilt that we all experience as human beings, and how that knowledge causes us to be isolated from society at a personal level. It can be hypothesized that Hooper put on the veil to acknowledge the existence of this isolation among all humans, and then pave the way to working through it.
Hooper believes in the afterlife, and so he thinks of his isolation on earth as being temporary since he will be joined to virtuous souls in Heaven, where there would be no room for the veil. The ending of the parable is ironic since Hooper passes away in solitude due to the attempts he had made in bridging the isolation that was felt by all humans through the symbol of his veil.
Sin and Guilt
Hooper talks about sin and guilt in the first sermon he conducts after putting on his veil. The author never gives the reader a clear indication of Hooper’s motivation for putting on the veil. Some of the villagers are forced to consider whether the presence of the veil is due to a grave sin that he has committed or whether the veil is meant to be the symbol of a moral lesson. Just as Hooper refuses to divulge the reasons for the veil, Nathaniel Hawthorne refuses to let the reader access his thoughts and emotions. The third-person narration of Hooper's actions isolates him from the reader just as the black veil isolates him from the villagers of Milford and even his fiancé, Elizabeth. The isolation that is forced upon Hooper is also never truly explained, or discussed in any substantial manner. Some of the villagers are convinced that Hooper has committed a grave sin that keeps him from seeing his reflection. However, it could also be true that some of them understand the moral lesson that he is trying to impart through the veil, and so the distance they create with him is a defense mechanism that keeps them from acknowledging their sin and guilt.
