Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic story of personal and public
guilt provides readers with the chance to read about the search for self in two ways: as
it is explored by the author, and as it is explored by the main character of this tale,
Mr. Hooper. Like many of Hawthorne’s stories, it peers into the darkness in the human
soul. Mr.Hooper’s black veil, which he wears as a symbol of his own sinful nature, comes
in the end to represent the guilt of human beings more generally—especially as it is
contained within the world-view of the early American Puritans. Readers can benefit by
speculating g upon Hooper’s personal demons and guilt, as well as by a consideration of
Hooper’s deathbed call for all his congregation to examine the invisible “black veil” of
guilt that they wear, but fail to acknowledge.
The question
as to why the minister begins to wear the black veil is purely a speculative one: the
story offers no easy answer to this question. One might prompt readers to examine the
question, therefore, in its due complexity. Readers should be encourage ed to explore
not only specific sources of sin, but the larger question of human guilt. Why the
minister sees veils on all around him is suggestive of the guilt that is shared by all
human beings.
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