Analysis Of The Minister's Black Veil

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Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil” depicts a struggle between individual morality and communal values. Parson Hooper adorns a veil that acts as a looking-glass, which magnifies the projection of sin onto the parishioners’. Hawthorne dramatizes the conflict between Parson Hooper and the townspeople of Milferd to demonstrate that appearances often contradict reality. Through this conflict, Hawthorne implies that every person hides behind a veil of their own. “The Minister’s Black Veil” is a short story heavily influenced by the Gothic genre. Hawthorne uses elements of the Gothic to create an eerie atmosphere that produces a looming presence of fate and mortality. The darkness of the Parson Hooper’s veil projects the sins and