The Minister's Black Veil
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"The Minister's Black Veil" is a short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It was first published in the 1836 edition of The Token and Atlantic Souvenir, edited by Samuel Goodrich. It later appeared in Twice-Told Tales, a collection of short stories by Hawthorne published in 1837.
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[edit] List and analysis of major characters
Reverend Hooper (The Minister)—A very calm and quite unremarkable minister in the small town, he suddenly and without explanation begins to wear a black veil that covers his eyes and nose. This is not met with acceptance in the strictly Puritan community and the townspeople grow frightened of this man they used to trust. His reasons are obscure throughout most of the story and he is a mysterious character both to the reader and the other characters. In general, however, he seems to feel that the veil symbolizes sin and he reminds others that they too are wearing a veil of sorts. He dies without allowing anyone to remove the veil and is buried wearing it.
Elizabeth—She was Reverend Hooper’s fiancée until he refused to take the veil off in her presence. She was the only one in the town who was not afraid of him but could not take the fact that he wouldn’t allow her to see his face ever again, especially since she does not fully understand his reasoning. She disappears throughout most of the story after she leaves him but is shown again at the end as being an attendant at his deathbed.
Reverend Clark—Reverend Clark is a young minister from Westbury who comes to Reverend Hooper’s deathbed to pray for him. He encourages Hooper to take off the veil before he is interred in the ground but Hooper shocks him (and everyone else present) with his strength as he refuses to have the veil taken off.
The Townspeople—The people of the town are highly religious and are very nervous about the change in their normally quiet and unassuming minister, Reverend Hooper. They are not accepting of change and act with superstition about the black veil, claiming to witness supernatural events revolving around Hooper. Being fearful of God, however, they put even more stock into Hooper after his transformation and both revere and shun him simultaneously. The only person in town who does not appear to behave in such a way is Elizabeth.
[edit] Inspiration
Hawthorne may have been inspired by a true event. A clergyman named Joseph Moody of York, Maine, nicknamed "Handkerchief Moody", accidentally killed a friend when he was a young man and wore a black veil from the man's funeral until his own death.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ Nelson, Randy F. The Almanac of American Letters. Los Altos, California: William Kaufmann, Inc., 1981: 201. ISBN 086576008X
[edit] External links
- Full summary and analysis of The Minister's Black Veil
- The Minister's Black Veil at American Literature
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